Cursed Crystals
by mastersam
Summary: Adult Titans continue to fight crime, and Jinx lives a modest life. But when a robbery from Mammoth and Gizmo goes awry, so does Jennifer's way of living. Femmeslash, mild comedy, and references to a previous relationship. Ranx. Also, an odd OC.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: Rewrite. I've felt very unsatisfied with this, now that I've gotten much better with my writing, and so I've decided to redo this one. I'll drop a few characters, and probably put in some others. You'll know who when you read.)

"_Fiona, I have something to tell you…_"

"_Yes, Cory?_"

"… _I'm not a man._"

The very corny, yet expected outcome of the soap opera scene made the woman that was sitting and staring with quite a bored look on her face give a sigh. Her coral eyes barely stuck out from half-open eyelids, her hand propping her head up, her elbow resting on the arm of the couch. Her hair, a bright, hot pink as well, fell just past her shoulder blades, hanging loosely, almost lazily. It almost looked as though it was symbolic to the young woman's ennui.

Her pale, almost grey skin made the brightness of her other facial features stand out quite brilliantly, even with the little that was visible of her large irises. Raising a hand that softly gripped the remote for the television, a single button was pressed- the red, shiny one, to be precise, making the screen go black with a flicker. A stretch as she yawned, her slender, cat-like frame popping as her back arched at an almost inhuman curve. Standing up, she kicked her legs sharply, popping her knees, and walked over to a table that stood in between the very small kitchen and the living room of her apartment.

The tabletop was littered with papers, most of them crumpled up, many others untouched by the tip of a pencil. There was a small pile, neatly stacked, at the far side of the table nearest the wall, being her works that she considered finished. Sitting down at the table and pulling out a pencil and eraser, she turned n the radio to have something to sketch to.

"This is Jonny Spazzix, your DJ on 103.7, KUKN FM, and up next is Annie Lennox, with Pavement Cracks."

Just as she had turned on the radio, the song had come into play, the synthesizer's soft, hollow sound being a pleasant sensation for her ears.

"_The city streets are wet again with rain…_

_But I'm walkin' just the same._

_The skies turn to the usual grey_

_When you turn to face the day…_"

Deciding the picture would be a wet, rainy day, the girl said to herself, "Alright Jenny, time to get started," as she sketched on some clouds and a few buildings.

"_Oo-o-o-oh and love don't show up in the pavement cracks;_

_All my watercolors fade to black._

_I'm goin' nowhere and I'm ten steps back._

_All my dreams have fallen flat._"

It suddenly came to her what exactly she wanted to draw, a flash of artistic visuals, showing Jenny just what she was going to put down on the paper. It wasn't by the end of the song that the face of a sopping wet cat was visible, and it was only two songs later, Tainted Love by Soft Cell and an edited Closer by Nine Inch Nails, that she had finished the sketch, her pencil having flown across the paper like a spider on crack.

The result was rather cartoonish, the cat having eyes far too large for anyone's head, but wide open and looking as though they were begging for someone to take it from the rain that poured onto its head while it stood in the alleyway, stretching its neck until it was ridiculously thin. A crooked grin crept to her mouth, and she reached to place it on top of the short stack of drawings, but stopped just before she dropped it; for as she had stretched her arm over the pile of paper, Jenny spied the drawing below. It was a simple portrait, the recipient being a girl, looking about seventeen or eighteen, hair that ran just along her jaw, and a look of apathy hanging about. A small gem stood embedded in the middle of her forehead, and was filled in fairly darker than the girl's skin.

Jenny cocked her head to side slightly, her smile fading out to the corners of her mouth barely being curled. Picking up the portrait and setting her more recent drawing on the pile, she reclined in the wooden chair as she whispered, "So Rae, remember our first date? I sure do…" as she closed her eyes, and began to reminisce…

JjJjJjJjJjJjJ

"Cyborg! You and I get Mammoth, Starfire and Beast Boy, you take Gizmo, and Raven, you can handle Jinx! You can, can't you?"

The Boy Wonder's idea of who fought who made enough sense to everyone, even Raven. "Whatever," she answered blankly.

Nodding, the one-man-army kicked open the already thrashed door to the bank that was being robbed at the moment by a rather large young man with shaggy red hair, a midget-sized youth that looked as though he was about six years old and perched in a mechanized set of legs, and a girl wearing black and blue, with a hot pink pair of devil horns for hair. As soon as Robin smashed the door off of its hinges, he made known their trademark warcry, "Titans, GO!" and they all made their leaps to their respective targets.

Raven decided to start the battle rather casually, and possibly even finish it right then and there… if only Jinx wasn't so damned fast. Using what seemed like no effort at all, desks were enveloped in black energy and hurled across the room at breakneck speeds, only to smash over the wall, having been ducked and dodged by the nimble thief. "It's so nice to see you again, ya little sunbeam," she said, her voice laced with sarcasm as she flung a hex back at the demoness, sparks the same color as her eyes flying across the room as they were sidestepped.

Meanwhile, it was as though Mammoth was trying to play mercy with both Cyborg and Robin at the same time. Having caught a fist of both warriors, he gripped them as hard as he could, but even his massive build could not hold against their combined strength. Finally, out of desperation, Mammoth wrenched on Robin's fist as hard as he could, throwing him off balance as the youth was slung into Cyborg, knocking the both of them aside. As he did, he called out to Jinx, "C'mon J, we need to get outta here, this one's a bust!"

Frowning, Jinx shouted back while keeping her eyes in Raven's direction to give her enough of an advantage to dodge the oncoming projectiles, "Aw, and I was just starting to have some fun too! You sure we can't stay a little longer and get a few more kicks outta this?"

Yelling in reply as he readied to deliver a punch to Cyborg, who was starting to recover, "Yeah, I'm sure!"

Just as he said those words, Gizmo found himself on the ground with his mechanical limbs gone, ripped from him by a gorilla the color of baby crap and lawn clippings and an alien warrior princess. Sitting on the floor in a rather vulnerable position, Gizmo pulled out one of his last resort defense mechanisms, reaching into his belt and whipping from it a small bomb. One could tell by the red light that flickered on it that it had already been set off, and now was not the time to bother oneself with trying to disarm it. Beast Boy immediately turned into his normal self as he hollered at them all, "The baby's got a bomb!" making a series of morphs that let him take cover behind a table as a cat.

Starfire merely stared at it with wide eyes, unsure at the moment of what exactly she should do. Should she run, or take it from him and throw it? If she threw it, it might hit innocents, but if she left it, it might harm her friends in the bank…

While she stood in this limbo, Robin made the decision for her, diving for her and gripping the Tameranean about the waist, yanking her a safe distance from the explosive device. Mammoth, who had been about to drive his fist into Cyborg's face, caught ear of the bomb, and instead tucked an arm under Cyborg's armpit and hauled the both of them over a pile of debris from the mess that Jinx and Raven had made.

Noting that just about everyone had been scared shitless, Gizmo wiggled on his goggles, turned on the jetpack attachment to his gadget belt, and flew off, squealing at them, "Smell ya later, suckers!" his bald head smashing through the window.

Seeing her fellow thief flee with a snicker, Jinx's eyes followed the trail of smoke he left behind, seeing the flash of red. Her eyes widened abruptly, and in a desperate attempt to make sure that she wasn't sent to prison for murder, guilty by association, she charged straight for Raven, who had a fairly confused look on her face. With a push and a leap, the both of them fell out the same window that Gizmo had broken through, and Jinx closed her eyes tightly as she waited for an explosion while she held Raven to the ground.

A sharp _beep_ was heard.

Following it was nothing but silence. Looking from behind his shielding cape out of curiosity, his domino mask just barely poking over his arm, Robin watched the mechanism with extreme caution. Was it supposed to be a delayed explosion? Lowering it just below his chin, so as to let him still throw it over his face if need be, he stared hard at it, as if it would make it do something.

As for the two large brutes, Mammoth and Cyborg, they looked over a smashed table in a manner that was near identical to Kilroy, their noses just poking over the wood. A look was cast between the two as they waited for it to detonate.

And that it did, although it wasn't the fiery explosion that they had all expected from the apparatus. In place of the incendiary eruption, there was a burst of sound, resembling a whistle, and bright pink smoke, accompanied by multicolored confetti, was scattered about the area instead. Mammoth, along with the other Titans still inside, stared, dumbfounded that they had fallen for something like that.

But, outside the bank on the sidewalk, Jinx finally opened her eyes upon hearing the noise. Her eyes looked toward Raven's, which aimed straight up, and were wide with what looked like shock, and just under them, on her cheeks, pink decorated her face, slowly darkening. Wondering at exactly why that could have been happening, Jinx was about to push herself off of Raven when she felt something particularly tender and soft under her palms. Realizing what exactly her hands were on, Jinx's own face went so red that one would have thought she was about to have a nosebleed. An immense smile stretching across her face, one that couldn't have meant she was happy about anything, she murmured shakily, "Uhm… honk honk?" as her fingertips barely curled twice over the almost cushion-like flesh.

Raven's eyebrows furrowed so far that it looked as though it was one line of hair. Her eyes turning white, she whispered harshly to Jinx, "_Jennifer Wrangler_. You have _two seconds_ to be out of sight, or I will _eat_ you. _Alive_."

Ever the smart ass, however, Jinx let her mouth slap Raven in the face one more time before she made her escape with, "Oh Rae-Rae, I never knew you were like _that_," without letting her brain process it first.

She didn't even get the time to get up. A blink and Raven's eyes had split into two pairs of blood red orbs, her gritting teeth becoming fangs, and with a burst of the black energy, Jinx was flung across the street.

It was at this time that Mammoth had already started to make a run for it, while everyone else was still in a state of astonishment about the ludicrousness of the situation, going faster than he had ever dashed before. As he passed her, he grabbed Jinx by the fist, yanking her to her feet and letting her get to a run herself as Raven cast many other objects at high speed, along with a few blobs of the raw energy. A wave of a hex, and the objects fell and the energy dissipated, but Jinx was nearly spent. Even so, she continued to run, she ran until she felt her chest burn, at which point Mammoth stopped, noticing her fatigue. "Think we should head back to the hideout?" he asked, his own breath slightly ragged with phlegm.

"Yeah," Jinx replied, hardly able to breathe, "but I think we should walk for awhile. I'd say that we lost 'em."

Nodding, Mammoth helped her to her feet and strode with her through the alleyways, unseen until they reached home.

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

Although Jinx had never truly considered that their real first date, as the two really had eventually dated, it was just a special moment to her, one she wouldn't be forgetting soon. After the relationship had been made known to the Titans, however, things had gotten a little shaky, considering she was still a thief at the time. She gave a shake of the head and sighed, the audacity Robin had to be so cautious sometimes made her want to rip her hair out. Even when she had given up her criminal life, Robin was the only Titan still reluctant to trust her; but then again, it was hard to say he totally trusted anyone, even his own friends.

But could she blame him? They all had their own instabilities: a guy who was more than half robot and he could catch both biological AND computer viruses; a shapeshifter who was an animal nut (that could use those powers in pretty violent opposition to his own ideas), and probably had a few habits that people didn't want to know about; an alien princess with an odd taste in food and a really bitchy sister; and finally, there was Raven. Whom, after the entire world found out who her father was, no one really wanted to know much anything else about her at all, so they just let her have her space in that dark little room of hers. That is, of course, until her and Jinx had gotten together, but that little fling hadn't let her get into much.

'_Still_,' she thought to herself as she set the portrait back down on the table, '_it was pretty damn nice while it lasted._'

Looking out the window as she flicked off the radio, interrupting Cure for the Itch by Linkin Park, and saw that it was beginning to cloud over. She had planned on taking a walk, but it seemed she would need to take a jacket, just in case anything was to fall. Pulling her thick hair back into a slightly frizzy ponytail, Jinx threw on her hooded trail jacket that she wore in the rain, the thing being all black and blue and quite faded from the mildly acidic rain that fell around the city. Keeping it low on her arms, Jinx walked down the concrete steps to the sidewalk, and twisted into the alleyways.

In spite of the fact that the place held so many negative memories, Jinx still held a strong connection to the slums and the backstreets of Jump City. Perhaps it was the fact that she was metahuman, and it was only fitting to her mindset; after all, to most that she had met, she was little more than a stray cat that had lost its way. Most…

Hmm. Raindrops. They felt exceptionally clean this time around- perhaps there was less when it came to the general air pollutants lately. Maybe Beast Boy had to do with that one; considering they were all older, they could at least vote by now, and the green squirt probably would have had something to do with the whole 'going-

A hand went to her forehead. There was no way that could be just a coincidence… shaking the odd, random thought from her mind, Jinx came to wonder just how those weirdoes were doing at the moment, anyway. She hadn't heard from them for a long time…

TtTtTtTtTtTtT

To be honest, they had actually just gotten back from a vacation. Cyborg, considering that he was the tech whiz, stayed and took care of the Tower while everyone else had done their own business; besides, it gave him a chance to improve on the Tower for a few days, and that may as well have been a vacation on its own for him. In the meantime, Robin and Starfire returned from Tameran, the spot for their honeymoon; as young as they were, they had decided that marriage was something that would work.

Beast Boy, on the other side of the spectrum, went to a much different kind of exotic locale: Japan. The main difference between this trip and his last one was that instead of going to Tokyo, he went to Okinawa, as it was a lot more on the floral side. That, and considering that after the last time he had visited the city formerly known as Edo, it was one of the few places he didn't want to be. His trip was mostly out of pining for Terra, as he had attempted to date her, even after the memory loss, but ended up getting dumped on the porch like an unwanted animal. Thankfully, a trip out of the country had helped his self esteem, considering he'd been spending far too much of his time trying to master the many dancing games that his host kept to think of much else.

As for Raven, no one really knew what she did, nor did anyone look into it. She was one of the few beings who could intimidate privacy out of an organization that was normally bent on having everything written down or printed out, in a nice little folder, and all the data stored in some supercomputer that regularly updates data sent to a satellite. Something normally so orderly and demanding, and she was out of the loop. Perhaps it was a good thing that it was that way, though, because there are some things best left unseen.

However, tonight was not a night where they all stayed apart. Instead meeting in the living room to watch a movie together, they relaxed in their own particular seats of the comfort set that they had arranged in the room so long ago, Cyborg hauling in a rather large bowl of popcorn. Robin, his arm over Starfire's shoulder, clicked the DVD player on with the remote, awaiting the arrival of the visual on the huge television screen.

"Y'know, there ain't nothin' like watchin' _Drill IV_ in hi-def," Cyborg stated proudly, a wide grin stretched across his face. Just as he said those words, a flash of what looked like an auger piercing a man's stomach flickered onto the screen, just before switching to the main menu with a piercing scream. Simultaneously, however, a shrill alarm went off about the Tower, accompanied by a flashing red light.

The very irritated eyes of everyone zeroing in on Cyborg, he felt the sweat begin to bead on his forehead. "Um… it was… just in case?" he explained feebly. Despite the lameness of his words, an emergency was an emergency. Turning off the player with a _click_, Robin then headed to the main computer of the Tower to locate the trouble, finding it within seconds.

A finger went to his chin as he pointed at the flashing dot on the screen. "Looks like they went after the Museum of Ancient History," he informed, "and they're already on the run. Either they were just aiming to get one big cash bringer, or they're in something deep. It doesn't matter- either way; we have to stop whoever broke in. Titans, move out!"

mMmMmMmMmMmMm

Even though the alarm had sounded at the museum, Mammoth and Gizmo feared not what was to become of them, the confidence they placed in their abilities blinding them to the fact that the Titans had come back from their little escapade, and now were hot on their tails.

Mammoth, not having much room to grow up, had instead grown out on his face, shaving the sideburns and replacing them with a somewhat broad, and quite long goatee that hung off of the point of his chin in a thick braid. Gizmo, it seemed, hadn't changed at all, except that he must have reached his full height at two foot ten, and his cue ball of a globe must have gotten even shinier. Giving their prize, an enormous white piece of topaz, a toss and snatching it out of the air, Mammoth sighed from his nose and passed Gizmo a small, genial smile. "Seems we finally managed to get somethin' right, eh li'l guy?" cupping his gigantic palm over Gizmo's head and giving it a playful rub. It was about the only way you could touch the fart without either making him look like a baby, or making yourself look like a pervert, unless your own hands were under six inches.

"Ah, cut it out, butt nugget!" he said as he felt the blood rise to his face. Very soon, however, it drained right back out as he took a peek at his sensory system. His eyes doubling in size, Gizmo cried out "Oh Hell, I just picked up somethin' givin' me the same signal as the T-Car! Those damn Titans are back!"

Saying a few very colorful words under his breath, Mammoth, standing on Gizmo's left, turned them into an alleyway as he whispered, "Alright, when they're here…"

The screeching of tires and four doors slamming right behind them was heard.

"_Split_!" he yelled, heading down the fork to the left, Gizmo taking the one to the right.

The Titan crew had just pulled up behind the pair, Robin in the lead. "Raven, Beast Boy, you two can tackle Gizmo. Cyborg, Starfire and I'll get Mammoth. Titans, GO!"

Dashing in their respective directions, the Titans covered ground impeccably fast. Raven leapt from shadow to shadow, appearing at Gizmo's side at each and every turn as the mechanical legs pattered along the concrete, while Beast Boy, transformed into a deinonychus, followed the robotic trail blazer with astounding speed, always nipping at the dwarf's heels.

It wasn't until Gizmo had reached a dead end, a ten-foot steel mesh fence blocking his path. Just as he was going to scale it, Raven burst from the ground in front of him, the darkness carrying her farther and farther upward until she would have towered over most any of Beast Boy's forms. Her eyes an apathetic white, she held her arms at her shoulder's height as though they were wings, her fingers in the positions of feathers, and a shadowy bird stood behind her in mimicry of her position, the wings spreading the darkness in licks that began to surround the area.

Beast Boy had caught up and stood behind him, now in the form of a polar bear, noticeable only by size and build, on his hind legs and staring blankly at Gizmo. The strokes of shadow faded just before they reached the small youth, and at that, Raven gave a blink, her eyes returning to their normal indigo for a moment as she inquired, "Where is it? What you stole?"

Looking back and forth between the two for a few seconds, Gizmo finally gave in, their methods of intimidation having proven effective. Screwing up his face, delaying it for as long as possible in that sort of moment, the midget finally yelled, "Mammoth's got it!"

Even though it wasn't the loudest thing that was ever said, Mammoth still managed to catch wind of his partner's confession. Grumbling slightly to himself, Mammoth picked up speed, aware of his own pursuers. Cyborg, who was right behind him, was ready to aim a sonic beam at the huge metahuman's thigh, but ended up being cut off by a series of trash cans that were flung in his direction. One of them took the blast, being disintegrated, another was collapsed with a metallic fist, but the third one got him, wiping him out and making him eat dirt as he slid into the corner of the alley. Using what precious little time he had bought, Mammoth slipped out of their reach, Robin now biting at his heels.

There was no way that he would be able to lose this one just by outrunning him- he would have to either fight him outright, which would nearly be suicide, or he would have to find a way to cut him off. Bolting out of the alleys, Mammoth headed straight for the nearest building, and made the sharp turn it required to get inside. Robin, who followed so closely that he was almost in arm's reach, ran just a few steps farther out, and then leaped forward, not realizing that his face was going to meet glass.

Mammoth had shut the door on him, making it the perfect way to at least slow him down. A deep, rumbling laugh was let loose as he saw Richard Grayson crumple to a heap, only half conscious and seeing stars. The laughter stopped immediately as soon as Starfire zoomed into view, however, a look that read plainly, 'How _dare _you?' written over her face. His run started again, this one heading for the elevator that was located in the middle of the room, Starfire knocking the door free of its hinges as she pursued Mammoth.

Reaching the doors, Mammoth rapidly pressed the up button on the panel; they opened almost immediately. Thank God. Sidling in, Mammoth pressed for it to take him to one of the uppermost floors, but watched in horror as the Tameranean flew towards the closing doors. Muttering to himself as fast as he could, "Ohshitohshitohshi-" he held out his hands to block the orange, hurtling form, but it didn't matter. As soon as she made contact, Starfire toppled the giant and the two of them fell in a pile on the floor of the elevator as the doors closed with an irritating _ding_.

Standing up with his brows furrowed in aggravation, Mammoth pushed Starfire from his chest and brushed himself off as he waited silently to reach his destination. Starfire recovered from the shove gracefully, hovering right next to him. "That was quite rude, Mister Mammoth," she said quietly.

"Yeah, so is this, but I've never really cared, considering my lifestyle," Mammoth said in retort, hocking up a huge loogie and spitting the wad of phlegm on the floor of the lift.

Gasping in disgust at first, Starfire then upturned her nose at the low act. However, standing with a silent criminal was indeed quite boring, and they still hadn't learned what it was exactly that they were after. She then decided that it would be good to at least make an attempt to pry from him knowledge of what he had stolen.

Looking back at Mammoth with a curious eye, she asked him, "Mister Mammoth, may I ask what it is that you and the short one have taken without permission?"

Hearing her soft voice, Mammoth turned and thought to himself, '_Well, just _telling_ wouldn't really hurt…_' and answering in a growl, "We got a topaz, 'bout as white as a pearl and big around as your eyeball, from that museum back there. On the card that was in the case it said somethin' about belongin' to Ramses II and that it was the key to his long life, or some bullcrap story like that. All we know is that it's worth a helluva lotta money, and-"

Being cut off by that same particularly annoying _ding_ sound making itself known again, the doors opened, and Mammoth sprinted as fast as he could, having caught his breath from their lengthy ride up. "See ya!" he yelled out behind him, heading to the stairs.

Starfire stood for a moment, her brain having blanked out for a second as the brief series of events made the gears in her head begin to creak. Then as her mind clicked back into motion, she gave a loud "Oh!" of surprise as she fired from the elevator after Mammoth.

Having reached the stairs, Mammoth planned on heading back down, preferably in a slide to help save time, and then make his way out the back door. But it seemed Starfire either was able to read minds, or had some trouble aiming her starbolts, as she fired one at him but missed, hitting the rail, and making it red-hot. The very thought of how painful it would be to have a sear mark across his buttocks of that degree made him cringe; he had to head upstairs if there was any hope of getting away at all. Scrambling upward, he only had to go up about three flights before reaching the door that opened to the rooftop.

Running as fast as he could until he reached the edge, Mammoth looked over, and spied a dumpster that held enough cardboard and old sofa cushions to soften his fall. But as if it was to ruin the moment of happiness that he held, Mammoth also caught sight of Cyborg looking around in the area. Dammit!

Turning around, Mammoth's eyes found Starfire about ten yards away, standing in the middle of the building. Her fists emanating green energy, she called out to him, "Surrender the artifact, Mister Mammoth, and no harm will have to befall you!"

A smirk crossed his face, showing that he still had some confidence left in himself, at least. "Surrender? Like this?" he asked sarcastically as he turned on his heel and chucked the white jewel as far as his arm would let him; the stone cleared several blocks. "Bye now!" he added, waving as he jumped from the edge, knifing through the air.

Starfire screamed, "No!" as the alien girl shot in his direction, stopping at the edge and sticking her head over to see just how far he had fallen. By the time she reached his point of parting, it was too late; he was too far down for her to catch. Standing straight, she closed her eyes and gave a small prayer in her home language for him to survive.

And survive he did; for just as he aimed to do, he fell into the soft pad of junk that was contained in the dumpster, taking no harm at all and having the lid fall just above his head.

Cyborg, who was enough of a distance away to have assumed that merely a large man had made an attempt at suicide, dashed for the trash bin, lifting the lid with reluctance, hoping to God that he wouldn't see a mangled, mutilated smear of blood instead of-

_Mammoth_. His face straightening as he saw the redhead poke his head from the container, Cyborg smashed it back down on that furry thing, leaving a dent in the steel lid. He was quite sure that Mammoth wasn't going to get up.

JjJjJjJjJjJjJ

Jinx had seen many odd things fall from the sky: dead birds, people, once even a half eaten box of chocolates. But among the last of things she had ever expected to drop from that immense gray thing, let alone land on her head, was a beautiful piece of jewelry. The white gem was set in what looked like gold and platinum, and it had a small ring of platinum at the top, looking as though it was a pendant to a choker or necklace. Considering it a well deserved blessing, Jennifer decided to not take any more chances and wait for the chain to fall on her skull, and instead headed directly home, calling herself quite the lucky girl.

rRrRrRrRrRrRr

The Titans gathered back at the car, where the would-be thieves were held. Having incapacitated them, Robin and the others discussed exactly what was to become of their search for the jewel, after Starfire procured the information. "Well, about all that I can think of doing is to search for it by hand. If we can't find it tonight, we can gather a search party with the police and help locate the thing," the head honcho said. "Alright, let's move out."

They all parted ways, heading off in different directions to areas that they considered suspicious. Beast Boy even turned into a bloodhound, sniffing about the place, as though it would give him any hint of where the artifact was.

Raven, however, had an idea. Jinx was not too far away, and, even though she had recently cleaned up her act, she still had quite the history. On this little inkling of an idea, she assumed, it would not be unwise to at least check out and see if she had decided to keep herself so. Floating amidst the skyscrapers, the demoness made her way to the former thief's home.

JjJjJjJjJjJjJ

Stepping up to her apartment door, Jinx quickly unlocked it and stepped inside, as the rain that had started as a drizzle soon became a downpour. Taking off her wet jacket and hanging it by the door, on which she turned the deadbolt behind her, Jinx decided it was time for bed, and headed to her room as she turned off all the lights behind her.

In her room, it was kind of small, but still looked as though it was comfortable. There was a lamp desk with the few books she could save after leaving the Hive sitting neatly underneath it, and a small, yet bright lamp was perched on top. A small, yet overly adorned bed sat in the middle, a chest of drawers built into the frame.

Opening one of the drawers, Jinx pulled out a small box that looked like it was made to hold expensive things. Inside were various pieces of gold and silver, and occasionally some jewelry. But the main thing that she was looking for here was her choker, a royal violet silk band that tied around her neck and had a piece of amethyst hanging from it. Finding the band, she wrapped it around the middle of her throat and carefully detached the stone, making sure not to damage the ring that held it. Reaching into her pocket and pulling from it the topaz, she gave it a nice long stare of admiration, smiling to herself as she thought just how rich this would make her look. Using even more care than she did on the amethyst, Jinx connected the large gemstone to her choker; it made it almost uncomfortably heavy, but it wasn't so bad that she couldn't get used to it.

Giving herself a pose or two in a hand mirror that was kept in the same drawer as the jewelry box, Jennifer decided that she looked _fantastic_ with the thing on. However, just as she reached up to take it from her neck, an odd feeling came to her, a kind of reluctance, and at that she decided it best to leave her choker on as she slept. Taking off her clothes, excepting her panties, the young pink haired woman found a tank top, slipped it on, and fell into bed after shutting off her light, snuggling herself under the covers.

Little did she know that, hovering right outside her window like a shadowy blanket of starless night, Raven watched her intently as the sorceress fell to sleep. Having seen all that she needed to see, the demon-woman soared from the apartment, and whisked herself away to the group. But not without a broken streetlight or two.

((By the way, just because a song may pop in once in awhile, this is not a songfic. Way too long. *wink*))


	2. Chapter 2

((Next chapter up. Sorry if it's a little short, the last one was actually longer than what I'd intended them to be.))

Having kept the fair amount of anger that plagued her insides from bursting her at the seams, Raven settled to the concrete in front of her friends with the usual grace and silence she normally exercised. Her dark blue hood casting a welcome shadow of privacy over her face, she was glad that it hid her watering eyes. Oppressing the anger, the _rage_… that was easy. She'd done it for some time now. But the disappointment of seeing Jinx, whom she'd thought had cleansed her hands of thievery, involved in a jewel heist… they may have been broken up, but it hurt. It hurt _bad_. The sadness she felt couldn't have even been properly represented by Timid and Rage fusing themselves together and becoming some immense form of malevolent melancholy.

She stepped forth, silent and foreboding as always, but far too much to be of the norm. Judging that she had seen something quite disturbing, the others continued their activities until she'd passed them and sidled into the T-Car before turning to stare, Beast Boy twisting his now canine head around the corner of an alleyway with a bloodhound's look of both pity and fear.

As Raven sat in the backseat, crossing her arms and beginning to shudder as she fought back the waves of despair that claimed her soul. Gizmo and Mammoth, who were behind the backseat and hog-tied with ridiculously strong cables, had finally begun to come to, and witnessed as the demoness began to break down. Gizmo, the midget's mouth deciding to open up before filtering it several times, snapped with venom, "Whaddaya snivelin' about, ya really couldn'ta seen somethin' _that_ bad. Now shaddap, you're buggin'- OH JEEZ!!!"

Before he could finish his harsh words, Raven's head twisted around a full one hundred and eighty degrees without moving the body, her face now unrecognizable. Instead of the normal indigo orbs that one sees, they were red, glowing slivers of demonic light, and a drooling maw of crooked, yellow fangs stretched farther than any normal human's should have. Stretching her back, she leaned over the seat and shrieked at him in the most inhuman voice she could muster, "_**NO, YOU SHUT UP!!!**_"

Hearing the noise from outside, Robin and Cyborg were the first to dart for the T-Car, Cyborg actually grasping the door handle. But he was too late; as soon as he had touched it, a blast of dark energy burst through the doors, the back window, the windshield, and the sunroof, making it look as though a small pack of dynamite had been set off inside the car. An unlucky Mammoth and Gizmo, whose bonds still held as they were blown from the remains of the vehicle, were flung into the street and rolled along like an odd pair of barrels, Mammoth's face clearly expressing his nausea while Gizmo howled in terror. Robin was able to shield himself from the debris, but having a half-robot, half-man fly at him at roughly thirty miles per hour caught him off guard; they piled into one another, and the two of them tumbled over each other into a lump of spandex, plastic, and various steel alloys.

Raven, still inside and now trying to recompose herself amongst the wreckage, painstakingly untwisted her neck, hearing it pop in many unpleasant ways. It was at that moment that she was thankful for the fact that she wasn't entirely human, because if she were to meditate for a few hours more than normal, she was sure she would be pain-free in the morning. A hand went to the sore muscles and vertebrae, massaging them for a brief time. Peering about, she got a general idea of how much damage she'd done: no doors, no windows, most of the roof was gone, the seats had been knocked loose, and parts of the floorboards were ripped up. Great, she'd get an earful from Cy this time…

Stepping from the twisted mass of metal, Raven sighed with the little remorse she would be able to display without blowing something to smithereens. Robin and Cyborg had managed to pick themselves up, and the robotic man could only gape at how his Baby had been laid waste to with such ease. Even the sonic cannon on his arm, when _amplified_, couldn't have taken out that much of an armored sports car. As for Robin, he began to think over what they would do next. Coming to a decision within a few seconds, having ridden himself the shock of the T-Car's destruction, he curtly ordered, "Alright, Starfire, Beast Boy, the two of you should take Mammoth and Gizmo to the penitentiary. The rest of us can walk home; we'll meet you there. Probably have to call a tow truck too…"

While the members of the team carried out the demands, Garfield morphing into a gorilla with a "Harrumph!" as he hefted the short, bald one over his shoulder, Starfire decided to be a touch more forgiving and pick up Mammoth under the knees and shoulders, cradling him like a giant baby. He looked at her with a raised brow, utter confusion decorating his face. "I wish to be able to talk to you properly, Mister Mammoth," the Tamaranean explained, knowing his unasked question, "and so I made certain that we could do so in the manner of 'face to face'."

"So, whaddaya askin' about?" the metahuman snapped. His irritation showed no bounds, it seemed, as this was beginning to be among the worst nights of his life.

"First, I would like to know if you have any others in partnership in your act of thievery."

A snort. "Why would I tell you idiots? Unlike baldy-"

"_Hey!_"

"-I like to keep a li'l trust among friends, y'know? I'm not as dumb as I look, lady."

Having gotten nothing from that particular query, Starfire moved on to, "I also wish to know of your intentions with the jewelry you had stolen. Were you going to use it for some sort of plot?"

"I already told ya," Mammoth's voice rumbled, "we planned on sellin' the thing for some big money. I imagine we'd have gotten it too, if I didn't have to throw it out like that."

Trying to think of another question to pry as much as she could from him, Starfire finally came up with, "Do you know of any other petty criminals or evildoers that live in the general area of where the stone may have found its landing place?"

Actually falling for it, Mammoth replied, "Not much there by way o' real criminals. The closest you'll get is Jennifer, but she's dropped outta that kinda business altogether, works at a Chili's not too far from here- shutting up."

Gizmo snickered. "So much for 'trust among friends', huh, shit-face?" the dwarven one sneered, spite lacing every single one of his words.

Instead of lashing out at Gizmo, as would have been expected from an angry man of his size and temperament, Mammoth instead begged to Starfire, "Please, please don't go after her! She's got nothin' in this one, I swear! She's done nothin' wrong, just leave her be!"

Although Mammoth's feelings for Jinx weren't of the passionate or romantic type, he still considered her a friend, and held great respect for her. In fact, that witch was among the few that he still respected at all let alone held in high regard. He never showed it too often, but his passiveness to what she'd told him to do while she was in the HIVE was enough of a demonstration, one would think. The humongous man continued to plead, but to no avail. "Beast Boy, I believe we must hurry back. Let us finish our duties here with haste; we have news on who to be suspecting," Starfire stated, to which the green gorilla answered with a grunt.

tTtTtTtTtTtTt

"Wha'? I thought she'd gone clean an' all that."

"Please, Cyborg, we only suspect her of possessing the property that is stolen, not having been a part of the stealing," Starfire explained.

"Yeah Cy, the big blockhead that Starfire was carrying just about started crying that we were gonna arrest her, and he was yelling about how she didn't do anything, 'OH, LEAVE HER ALONE,' and all that jazz," Beast Boy added. "I'm pretty sure that if a thought like that made him wig out that badly, he's not lying, and she's not in on it."

Robin furrowed his brow as he thought on the matter, mulling it all over. Finally, he came to a decision. "An emotional breakdown like that seems pretty out of character for someone like Mammoth, so either he was acting, which I highly doubt, or he was honestly worried about an innocent friend being taken into custody. Either way, we still have suspicion that Jinx has-"

"I _know_ she has it," Raven interrupted quietly, that having been the first thing she'd said since her outburst in the car.

Everyone turning towards her at her awkward break of silence, Robin confirmed it with, "So she's definitely got it?" to which Raven nodded. "She was putting it around her neck. Saw it with my own eyes."

"Alright then, we'll confront her tomorrow. Remember, she's an honorary Titan, so unless she attacks or tries to escape, no hostility. Got it?" The entire team showed their understanding of his orders.

"Good. In the meantime, I'd like to say that it's about time for us to get some sleep. I'm off to bed."

JjJjJjJjJjJjJ

"-_ver thought I'd die alone,_

_I laughed the loudest, who'd have known?_

_I traced the cord back to the w-_"*

_CLICK!_ Jinx's slender hand struck the top of the alarm clock, promptly shutting off the radio. She gave a stretch and a yawn, her scrawny, sinewy body seeming as though it should be creaking like an old floor, or a poorly oiled door hinge. Scratching the top of her head, Jennifer threw her blankets from her body, and felt something cool and heavy at her collar. Using her hand that wasn't still satisfying her itches, she remembered the gemstone that had fallen on her head the night before. Rubbing her thumb over the polished surface, it made her feel comfortable and revitalized suddenly, as though she'd just had a mug of coffee and stepped into the warm sunlight. Her mouth twisted itself into a genial smile as she got out of bed and gathered her clothes.

Breakfast was simple enough: make some cereal, wolf it down, and slug her morning tea. In spite of how it was all supposed to go, she'd actually spent what seemed like a half an hour, tea in one hand, jewelry in the other, merely staring into its many facets. Something about it was so hypnotic, so entrancing, that she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off of it for five seconds. However, a peek at the clock that she hung in the kitchen raised an alarm; she was going to be late for her shift if she didn't hurry up! Deciding that she could wash her hair in the sink, she did just that, drying it off feverishly with a towel and putting on enough deodorant to mask that she hadn't showered that morning.

Rushing out of her apartment, dressed in her work clothes, Jinx strode down the sidewalk with long steps that covered a block of cement in only one or two quick strides. She blew past the civilians that got in her way, her bony shoulders knocking away the meatier arms of men who would try to cop a feel, and crash elbows with the women who found her to be a source of competition for their boyfriends that wandered the streets with them.

However, she hadn't them on her mind, as it was only within minutes that the overgrown, lustrous red pepper that Jennifer worked under was within view. Quickening her pace, she hadn't seen the common mugger that skulked in the shadows of an alley, and at the last possible moment, he slung an arm over her neck and his other hand clasped about her lips. Feeling the gemstone beneath his wrist, the man growled, "Hey, whatcha got here? Nice sized rock, I'd say. Get me some big- oof!"

Not even having thought of how she'd do it, Jinx had shoved her jagged elbow into the man's ribs, and felt a slight crack. As he let go, she dropped onto her hands and delivered a one-legged mule kick to his knee, the _pop_ of its dislocation echoing in the cramped space. Pushing herself to her feet, she ran out of the alley and shouted back at him, "Great, now I'm gonna be late for work! Thanks a lot!"

And yet, by some miraculous stroke of luck, Jinx had managed to sprint into the bar & grill with about five minutes to spare, collecting her pen and bill pad. A co-worker, Emily, stepped up and said, "Close one, you're almost late again."

The woman was a few years older than Jennifer, and had brown hair that was far more manageable. It fell straight down in a ponytail to her shoulder blades and matched the mahogany of her eyes. She was otherwise built and looked fairly average, nothing particularly special, but she could get a date if she tried. A smile was shared between the two as the pink-haired metahuman tried to catch her breath. Drawing a pocket mirror from her apron, Emily opened it and handed it to Jinx, saying, "By the way, I think you're forgetting something…"

Raising a brow as she examined herself, it took her only a moment before Jinx realized she had yet to pull her own hair back. Clasping the mirror shut and tossing it back with a quick "Thanks!" Jinx whipped a scrunchie from her pocket and pulled her bright coral locks into a somewhat messy ponytail, a few strands hanging loosely over her forehead.

"And, not to be a bitch or anything, but you're stuck with the spot where most of the hooligans sit around. Everyone else grabbed their section of the place before you got here. Sorry…"

Sighing, Jinx just waved it off. "'Salright. I can handle 'em."

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

In light of the fact that she had the worst crowd to work with, Jennifer did much better than normal that day. As a matter of fact, her quality of work was so great that the customers had a hard time keeping up with her. Even the other waiters and waitresses who normally were able to handle a flood of people weren't able to match her pace or skill. As well, something also seemed a bit more instinctive about the young woman. Accidents of varying degrees were spotted before anyone else had a clue that they were coming up, and therefore she was the one who'd saved many a meal. Twice that day, not just once, _twice_ one of the cooks was about to deep fry something that still had ice all over, and while she'd passed through the kitchen, the sorceress managed to bat him away from such a potentially disastrous situation. Another time, Jinx had caught the salty brim of a half-drunk margarita and kept the limey drink from being swatted into another man's plate.

However, her good luck seemed to have a bit of a break, for as she neared the end of her shift, Jennifer happened upon what looked like two women having mistakenly taken their children out to eat at the bar and grill. With the hope that they just might be well-behaved, the metahuman sorceress stepped forward with pen, pad, and a broad, friendly smile as she asked them, "Welcome to Chili's, may I take your order?"

Her hoped were dashed. "I want a zillion ribs!"

"I want a gallon o' lemonade!"

"The biggest cheeseburger you got!"

"No, _I_ wanted the cheeseburger!"

The woman that Jinx assumed to be the friend, as no regular person would be able to take all of this unless they were trained to, began to grip fistfuls of hair to prevent from screaming. While the little chiddlers jumped and argued and screamed, Jinx gave a huff with a raised brow, and flicked her wrist. Unnoticable at the tips of her fingers, as it resembled fingernail polish, the flash of pink zapped the little ones around the ankles, and they fell flat on their rumps. A very satisfied grin came to her face as they were silenced for a time. "So, now, what would you like…?"

TtTtTtTtTtTtT

Koriand'r rather disliked hiding in the dark. It made her feel as though she was not only hiding her figure from sight, but her motives, and it therefore was logically unjust in her mind. Robin would ease her worries on such matters by reminding her that there were even more deceptive, physically and occasionally, emotionally brutal methods used to make sure criminals were brought to justice, and merely hiding in the shadows and then approaching slowly was how they were going to make sure that Jinx didn't see them from afar and begin to think of lies on the spot, if she had any. Richard's words did little.

"… And so he ended up with half a bottle of hot sauce in his underwear!"

Jinx and one of her coworkers laughed merrily as they ended their shifts, walking through the parking lot. Her friend had a car, and so was out on the road in no time; Jennifer, on the other hand, simply began to walk home. "My God, those were the best tips I've had my entire life!" she called jauntily to no one in particular.

As soon as the parking lot was empty save the pink-haired waitress, the Titans melted away from the shadows and over the curb, surrounding Jinx efficiently. Although she knew that she had a record that wasn't the cleanest of them all, Jinx thought she'd done her best to avoid any trouble with the law. A look of bewilderment, and they all knew that she had no idea why they were there. Cyborg, who was at her right, put a hand on her shoulder and said, "'Ey there. I didn't expect to see us all together again my- agh!" his attempt to show less hostility interrupted.

By what exactly… Jinx hadn't even told herself to move at all. She knew she was around good people. But as soon as she'd felt his cold, metallic fingertips, _something _made her whip on her heel and drive her elbow into his chest, and the impact floored him, not to mention sent the worst of tingling sensations down her arm. The group stood and gawked in utter disbelief, unable to comprehend that a girl Jennifer's size had just taken down that metal man, and not to mention done some damage; if they looked at the chest plate, they could see a smooth dent in the armor where her elbow had smashed into him.

Jinx, the first to react, offered her hand and an apology, but was cut off by the overpowering and instinctual urge to flee. As much as she tried to fight it, the feeling had come too quickly and had caught her off guard; before Cyborg could even touch her palm, she had already bounded into the alleys, her familiar home. Only pausing long enough to put his hand on the ground instead, Cyborg pushed himself to his feet, muttering, "Man, if I'd known she'd learned to do that, I'd have put on the heavy stuff. At least I wouldn't be hammerin' my chest plate again."

"C'mon, I haven't even seen her fly that fast when she had us on her tail after a heist! We need to catch her, and fast!" Robin called, not even bothering with their signature warcry as he bolted in the metahuman girl's trail, Gar following with the form of a wolf and the two women on the team knifing through the air; Cyborg barrelled down the path like a linebacker, plowing through the trash that got in the way.

'_This is totally ridiculous_!' Jinx thought to herself as she sprinted over the asphalt and conctrete. A particularly difficult corner came up, and she kicked off of the walls to clear it without wiping out. '_I mean, I don't even know why I'm running in the first place, and I can't stop! It's retarded!_'

'For I dost bid't so.'

Jinx stumbled on the landing. Although her recovery was quite graceful, the pink-haired girl's mind was in a spin as she continued her brisk run through the alleyways. It felt like something had invaded her utmost privacy and pasted it all over their own bedroom. 'And, I must inquire of thee, dost thou find thyself fleeing from thy threat 'retarded'? I wouldst consider't more a boon, rather the suppressant thou dost claim't t'be.'

'_Threat!? They weren't a threat! Those were my friends!_' Jenny thought to none in particular, merely trying to keep contact with the voice.

'I shalt be the judge of that,' it replied, the cold and powerful tone ringing and bouncing about her skull. 'Now, run!'

Without even telling herself too, Jinx began to run so fast that she was afraid if she ran into something the obstacle would break worse than her, and that was quite the scare, considering most of what got in her way was a building. Each of those concrete structures were being passed up in one or two strides, the airtime letting her carry herself a block's distance in about two to three steps. She began to hope that someone would catch her before a brick wall did…

Watching from above, and flying as fast as they could, Starfire and Raven were barely able to keep up with their chasee's breakneck pace. The alien princess was pushing herself so hard that her eyes' light was visible from the ground, even at the heart-stopping height she flew. Her partner was having similar trouble being able to keep the metahuman in sight, the limits of her own abilities near the breaking point. All of the darker one's concentration was required to keep her afloat and traveling at such velocity. However, she soon realized that they would never catch her like that, and so she looked several hundred yards ahead, where there was a long straightaway. _Perfect_. Slowing down so as to be able to focus more of her power, Raven summoned forth a wall of dark force that stretched from wall to wall and almost to the tops of the buildings. Jinx, unable to stop in time at her speed-

WHOOMPH! The impact was soft, which was certainly something the sorceress didn't expect, and the shadowy energy stretched and cushioned her fall until she hit the ground, which it practically laid her down on. Although the controlling force inside yelled, practically screamed to immediately get up, and run, which she tried to do, unable to resist, Jinx couldn't get very far, as Starfire had landed and blocked her path. A punch that was aimed for Starfire's chest was caught, but even with her unearthly strength, Starfire had difficulty holding it back. A kick from the opposite side was flung in to nail her in the ribs, but that too was blocked; grabbing Jinx by the ankle and the fist, Starfire seemed to have the advantage on balance, but she knew that it may not be completely true. After all, she had seen some rather strange positions and contortions performed by this one. But what might! Jinx's one toe and Starfire's two feet were planted firmly into the asphalt, cracking the tarred gravel. Screwing up her face and force of will to give one last push, Starfire's eyes met Jinx's, and at that she faltered- it was utter confusion and desperation. It was not the spite, the arrogance, the anger the sorceress usually displayed in battle. To Starfire, it seemed as if Jinx hadn't the slightest idea why she was doing this in the first place. Deciding to end it then and there, the alien warrior twisted and slammed her foe into the ground, and pinned her there with a knee to her back, holding down the dangerous arms with her own powerful limbs. From behind her drawled a voice that was thinly veiled with monotony to hide the irritability, "Don't worry, I've got it from here."

Starfire was barely able to get off in time as Jinx's form was laced with black streaks, all of them spreading to meet one another and covering everything except for her head. With a sudden, jerky motion, she was flung from the ground and smashed into a brick wall with unnecessary force. Jinx recognized the feeling of the energy that grasped her 'round the middle, as it left her skin feeling clammy, and slightly numb. Staring as the hooded figure waltzed into view, seeming as though she didn't even touch the ground, she said tiredly, "Rachel…"

Raven glared at her for a few seconds before replying. "Jennifer."

Unsure of what to do as an awkward silence carried on, Starfire decided to break the ice by calling cheerfully, "Koriand'r!"

As the other two turned in her direction, the Tamaranean shrugged, confirming to the others her lack of understanding. The rest of the Titans had managed to pull into the alleyway, Beast Boy slightly winded from trying to keep up as a cheetah when he lost Jinx in his lupine form. As Jinx was surrounded yet again, the voice inside her head barked fiercely, 'Fight! Combat them! _Defend thyself_, t'save face if not thy life!'

"Oh, shut up," Jinx murmured as she offered her hands to Raven. The others looked at her as though she may just be cracking, but Robin… he knew there was something more. As eccentric as Jinx was, she wouldn't have gone wacko like this so quickly without some kind of catalyst, and he was going to find out what it was.

The arrest from then onward went remarkably smooth, Jinx providing absolutely no resistance as she was cuffed, not even a sarcastic remark. They had to tighten them to the maximum degree, as her wrists were so slender she would have otherwise slipped from them. Raven stood behind her, the demoness's firm grip latched on and holding Jinx's hands under her cloak, the two of them extremely close; it was hard to tell whether it was a sign of affection or for security, because when the bolt of fabric was hanging and hiding her body, none either knew, nor did they want to know what went on beneath it.

The two lagged behind somewhat, just enough to whisper to one another their thoughts without. Or, to be more accurate, Jinx had managed to slow down Raven so she could let her tongue susurrate soft noises that resembled an apology. "I'm so sorry; please, just give me a minute to explain-"

"We chased you for about five, Cyborg took an elbow to the chest that was like Superman packed into a little package, and you came _this_ close-" Raven tartly interrupted, holding her thumb and forefinger about a half an inch apart from each other and in Jinx's face, her other hand still holding onto Jinx's wrists- "to laying out Starfire. You can do it properly when we question you at the Tower."

Jinx promptly clammed up, her flamingo pink eyes beginning to shimmer with newfound moisture as she turned away. She should have expected as much, now that she thought about it; the bitterness was one of the reasons she'd loved Rachel so much, it made it that much more pleasing to wring a smile from her stony face. And after such an escapade, talking was probably among the top three on Raven's 'DO NOT WANT' list. Sighing, Jinx let her mind wander as they tread the concrete and litter, and began to think about the Tower. She actually had only been there a couple times since the takeover her, Mammoth and Gizmo had pulled so long ago, and even then, it was still so long. Two years? She couldn't remember. Well, it was about time to undo that little streak of hers…


	3. Chapter 3

((Ugh. I hate how much life gets in the way.))

The interrogation room of the Tower was big, empty, and had a small chamber in the middle that was composed of steel panels and Plexiglas windows. At the very center of that chamber used to be a foldable, steel chair- it had been thrown about the eight foot space, bouncing around and denting the panels as Jinx went totally nutters, shrieking at an invisible subject as though she had a particularly agitative strain of rabies, her teeth bared in a voracious manner as she screamed. Thankfully, the chamber had been soundproofed. Not so thankfully, they had no idea how long it would hold up to her thrashing about in it.

Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg watched in no small amount of fear as she continued her rampage, tugging at her hair in fistfuls. "So… whaddaya think we should be doin'?" Cyborg asked, looking down at Robin.

"Erm…"

Richard was, for once, at a loss. He wasn't quite sure on what to do next. There was obviously the fact that she could have blown the chamber to pieces by now if she wanted to, but the fact that she was arguing… with… herself? Whatever she was arguing with, it kept her from doing anything voluntary with her powers, newfound or otherwise. Restraint was starting to seem a little attractive at the moment, since the normally spindly girl was thrashing his well-kempt room.

Without warning, the green one chimed in, "I know! We could get Raven-"

"No, Gar."

Undaunted, he said, "I was just gonna say we should have them-"

"Do you understand the meaning of the word, B?"

The frustration starting to make him itch a little, Garfield finally barked, "_Talk_, Robin, let them talk. Jinx could ignore her imaginary friend that's bugging her so badly when Raven was around. Remember, behind the building? When Rachel popped in, she stopped resisting at all. Maybe it'll work here too."

"Mebbe he's right, after all. It's not like it's one o' those alien-scheme-conspiracy theories that he cooks up all night," Cyborg piped in.

A gloved hand ran through Robin's hair, and he somewhat relished the twinge of pain that jolted though his scalp. As much as he'd like it otherwise, they were right. Raven was probably the best choice here; the only problem was, she was in an emotional rut herself. How would they convince her to come down?

As though he'd read his mind, Beast Boy rubbed his hands together and said mischievously, "And now, here's my plan on how to get her down here. Alright, it goes…"

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

'Thou hast sealed thy fate! Only the fool trusts in its captors.'

'_Fool? You're the fool here, having me hit everyone I came across like that! Those aren't my captors, those are my _friends_! Though, I kinda doubt they are anymore, after what you've done, freakin' idiot,_' Jinx replied to the strange entity that invaded her mind.

'If understanding be what they lacketh t'be forgiving after the episode, how couldst thou name such hidebound and unfeeling cretins thy friends? Hast thou no wits proper? Trust doth be no valued philosophy of theirs!'

"Shut up!" Jinx yelled out loud with utmost irritation.

Voices in her head she was used to, as that was a form of communication for some of the more _special_ members of the HIVE, and Brother Blood's… that was something she didn't like to think about. But the voices, she was more than accustomed to them. Hell, she had even been expecting one or two to show up in a few years, considering how lonely she kept herself. However, this was no voice- this was a _presence_, and that was really not something she cared for. This metahuman preferred to maintain all control of her body, thank you very much! Even with such ridiculous strength and speed, Jennifer began to seriously regret having put on that piece of topaz.

Panting heavily after having thrown a tantrum in the chamber and argued inside with the _thing_ that mentally plagued her, Jinx thought of what to do with whatever was festering under the bone of her skull. Maybe they would be able to come to some sort of agreement-

'Compromise wouldst be an utter failure for a will as weak as thine,' the voice interrupted, having read her thoughts like an open book, 'were't so I not a benevolent spirit.'

Jenny snorted. '_Benevolent my ass. You've done me no good since you showed yourself._'

'Oh, I believe so. Who dost thou consider able to suppress thine powers and prevent further mayhem whilst thou unleash thy fury upon thy holdings?'

"Shut up," Jinx repeated.

'Why should-'

"What did I just tell you?"

RrRrRrRrRrRrR

The darkness of the fiendish woman's room was even more foreboding than the usual sense of danger that most would feel wash over them when they would approach her door. Perhaps it was the great amount of anger she held towards Jinx; the witch had no idea what low she'd dropped to after pulling a stunt like that. Maybe it was how confused she was about her feelings towards Jinx altogether; although she was furious with her, that spark from their previous relationship had begun to flare up again, and now that her chest swirled with emotion, Raven was quite unsure of what exactly to do. Quite a conundrum for the Titan, really.

But, when she let her mind settle, she realized what it was that blackened and depressed the atmosphere so- her reading material. The book wasn't among those trashy romance novels that one would have expected most of her age to read. It was an epic that described the deaths of thousands, tortured souls, and mythical, demonic beasts rising from the depths of the ocean to combat the divine and reshaping the world in the process. There were god-like heroes fighting diabolical villains in hopeless battles, some to save their loved ones and their kingdoms, others to exact revenge for the fallen. One even had tread the depths of the world of the dead, the demons, and evil gods to snare the soul of his best friend and bring him back to the world of the living, for he had been unjustly slain. As Raven thought about it for a second, considering that was her current point in the story, she lifted her eyes and her attention from the tome, and watched as the gloom was steadily lifted from her sanctum. Although she liked it better that way, she also realized that she would end up being called on for something, and to drive everyone off who was sent to deliver the message wouldn't do… as much as she would enjoy it.

It was the moment that the shadows receded to their normal reach, tendrils no longer creeping about the carpet and ceiling, that Rachel noticed a distinct _buzz_ wavering about her head. After a couple of turns, she finally laid her eyes on it: a green-bottle fly, about the size of a nickel. Huge thing, really. A few seconds later, it landed on her desk and warped its shaped instantaneously into a green teenage boy with pointed ears and an under bite. Sitting at the edge and kicking his feet idly, Gar asked, "So… whatcha readin'?"

Drolly, Raven answered, "Something that would melt what's left of your brain and have it dribble out of one ear." For some reason, she felt very satisfied upon the utterance of those words.

Without a change in expression, Beast Boy hopped down from the wooden surface and said, "Oh. See ya, then," trudging out in a bored, almost mindless mood.

However, just as Raven was about to turn back to her book, Garfield whipped back around and yanked her beloved manuscript from under her nose, laughing like a maniac. Within the three tenths of a second that were required for it to click that Beast Boy actually had the _nerve_ to steal her book, the green youth was already zipping about the halls, a blue and black streak of wrath trailing after him, gnashing its teeth in both objection to the injustice and foretelling of what fated the poor soul who would be caught.

In a mad dash through the hallways, Beast Boy put the tome by the spine in his teeth, becoming a lynx to be able to manage the corners better. Even with his newfound speed, however, Raven was still hot on his tuft of a tail, and his enormous paws, although wonderful for handling, were already pushing it for momentum. If only he could just reach the next corner…

With a muffled roar, Beast Boy flung the book into the air at a fork in the halls, and into Cyborg's metallic hands. Turning on his heel and tucking it under his arm as though he'd caught a football, Victor bolted over the cheap carpet, knowing Raven would be just as close on him as she was on Gar. Continuing on his charge, he nearly faltered; about ten yards in front of him, stairs! With a yelp, two steps, a leap, and the small rocket boosters in his feet, he managed to hover down the stairs. One foot ended on the wall, the other stretched out to the far end of the steps, but he slid down without losing any velocity. But as he came to the bottom of the flight, he was given a nasty shock-

"Second flight!" he squealed in a pitch that was high to the point of being feministic.

Cyborg managed to grab hold of the rail with his free hand and pull himself back into balance as he made the corner, this time in an upright position, and slid down to the bottom of the stairwell as he left a trail of smoldering carpet behind him. A swift corner to the right, and it was handed off to Starfire, who immediately shot into the air ducts.

Having caught Vic and realized that she was mere seconds too late, Raven let a roar of fury as she blasted Cyborg out the nearest window, leaving him to hang desperately by his chained hand. Starfire's emotions ran rampant… Raven didn't even have to follow her into the vent to know where she was.

Kori zipped through the metal tube as fast as she could without hitting anything, occasionally having to use a starbolt to broaden the corners. Although it was even confusing for her somewhat, Starfire was confident that she would be able to make Friend Raven lose her trail-

Just as that thought had come to mind, what looked like a giant, black knife pierced the aluminum, mere inches from Starfire's face. An "Eeek!" and a starbolt later, and her way was clear, but the path was soon entwined with blades of darkness yet again almost immediately. Pressing on with desperation, she continued to fire off her orbs of lime green and blow away the shadow that attempted to hamper her progress. However, she was soon engulfed with blackness, and unable to go any further, and she had to think of a way out, fast!

BOOM! A smoking hole burst through the ceiling, through which fell Starfire, clutching the book for dear life. Raven stood over her, seeming to be some tower of pain and despair that was about to consume her…

With a cry of fear, Koriand'r jettisoned forward and plowed Raven over, smashing through a total of five walls and landing in Robin's room. Robin, who had been waiting at the doorway for Starfire, was confused for a second, but realized that he needed to grab the book before Raven got her first. Nabbing it up, he shot a quick, "Sorry, Starfire," as he bolted down the halls, Raven having just recovered from her tackle.

Richard was certain that the rubber on the soles of his shoes had begun to burn, in all consideration of the pace he was running. Even the steel lining on the edges and the toes was probably going to be dangerous to touch once he was at the room, and he'd have to be constantly stepping back and forth to keep his feet from sticking or searing the floor. While he thought all of this, a Very Angry Raven© appeared in front of him, rising from the floor with liquid precision, causing him to use evasive maneuvers; in particular, he jumped at an angle and ran along the wall at his blistering speed without missing a beat, now aware that Raven would be hounding him to the extreme.

Nearly every passing second Raven burst forth, Robin was able to avoid her at that very instant. Ducking, dodging, weaving… his agility was simply too well-honed for her. It was using these tactics that he'd brought the interrogation room into view. '_Alright,_' he thought to himself, '_only fifteen yards away-_ _OH CRAP!_'

Skidding to a halt, Raven appeared again, but this time, with a mass of writhing shadow-tentacles and her trademark four, ember-like red eyes set ablaze. Her jagged maw was laced with slippery ropes of goo that Robin was unsure to be saliva, and she screeched at him in frustration for having to chase them all so far. Paralyzed, Richard merely stared upward with a look of awe and dread as the demoness inched forward.

Suddenly, without warning, an emerald spider monkey yanked the tome from Robin's hand, leapt past the tentacles, and twisted its shape into a greyhound, holding the book in its mouth. Whipping into the doorway, he put on the brakes, set down the book and turned back to normal while he waited for Raven to swim through the walls and kill him in some sick, demented sort of way.

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

Jinx heard footsteps pounding through the hallways nearby; they were very rapid as well, so she assumed someone was running and were either really happy, or REALLY scared. She considered the possibilities- there were four people who had abilities far surpassing that of people, and one human who trained himself to the point of being able to lay waste to any of them, one on one, maybe even all of them at a time if he had the backbone to be merciless to his own friends.

'Villainous' as she was, not even Jinx had been able to do that. She made sure that they were all able to trust one another, and maintained a healthy relationship, so long as they recognized that she was the only one with any sort of common sense, and therefore the head honcho. To torture her lowers into submission, as Brother Blood and Madame Rouge had, was simply unconscionable to her. She was a thief, not a murderer!

'So thou delude thyself,' shot a snide remark from the back of her mind.

'_The first thing I'll kill to break that clean streak'll be you, bitch,_' Jennifer mentally snapped back, having gotten completely fed up with her possessor.

Returning her thoughts and attention to the doorway, Jinx had turned just in time to catch Garfield flip through the doorway and transform into his regular form. What he was before, she didn't know, nor did she care, but to see him such a pale green was not a good sign. It wasn't even that he was sick- no, she couldn't say that. It honestly looked like he was nauseous with fear. His eyes drooped with hopelessness and darted between Jinx and the doorway, a very large, very old book at his feet. It was obvious he was considering something, something that had to do with her…

Raven did not fling the door open like most angry people do. That is, of course, because she is unlike most angry people in that they do not have powers that allow one to move immense amounts of mass by willing it. And so, the door was not flung open. Instead, it and the surrounding foot or so of frame and wall were saturated in dark, telekinetic energies, and imploded, compacting and concentrating into an extremely dense sphere about twice the size of a soccer ball. It dropped to the floor with a heavy _thunk_! The now eight-foot archway held a full-body portrait of Raven, whose cloak was cast about her shoulder, and Robin, who was propped against the wall, panting at a dangerously fast pace while he clutched his chest. Her four eyes were still in plain sight, and a voracious snarl escaped her lips as she spied Beast Boy. "_**YOU!!!**_" she cried.

She didn't even bother to fly or teleport; the demoness actually _walked_, the psychic winds twisting her hair and cloak as she made a predatory advance towards Beast Boy, who in turn, was trying to make himself appear as tiny, submissive, and uninteresting as possible. In doing so, he revealed a rather distraught Jinx, whose eyes opened wide and then rolled with a clap to her forehead.

'_Dying!_' she mentally scolded herself, '_He was considering which was a better way to go. Get ripped to shreds by a loony, or… whatever Raven does. Great, now they think I'm some recurring slasher-villain,_' finishing her thoughts with a disappointed sigh.

Slumping, but still keeping her gaze on Raven, who now began to stare quizzically, Jinx rested her forehead on the window of the chamber that wasn't cracked, generally depressed at the situation. Possessed, held in custody, and face to face with an extremely powerful demonspawn who'd held feelings for her before? Don't think it could get much worse. Not unless there was something like a mass exodus of villains from Gotham to- no, don't even think it, she'd never forgive herself if she saw the Joker, Poison Ivy, and Scarecrow wreaking ten times the havoc of any of the Jump city villains. Considering her most recent luck, it would be just the thing to happen, too…

Jinx watched as Raven shrunk down from her monstrous visage and faded back to her fairly human shape, the swirling winds falling to calm air once again. A pair of royal violet eyes shined at Jinx from behind loose bangs, having been knocked askew during the rampage. Picking up her book, yet never letting her stare veer from Jinx, Raven asked Beast Boy quietly, "So… you stole my book from me, and put me through all of that, just to get me down here?"

Transforming back into his normal self, Garfield was sitting cross legged with a hand behind his head in embarrassment. "Um… yeah. It worked, didn't it?"

Raven's eyes thinned angrily. "Don't put so much effort into it next time."

With a squeal, Beast Boy dashed from the room, and none saw him again for the next hour or so. In the meantime, Robin had been joined by Cyborg and Starfire, gathering a small distance behind Raven. As Raven turned to leave, still reluctant, she saw the group at the doorway and froze. With more of a puff than a sigh, she rotated on her heel and mumbled, "Alright, alright…"

Pulling a stool inside Jinx's chamber, she sat down calmly. Her hair still hung over her face a little more than it used to; Jinx found it kind of attractive. It made her look like she had just beaten the Hell out of someone and didn't have the time to fix her hair back. "Take a seat, Jen," Raven said monotonously.

Looking down at her own steel chair, Jinx's face fell to a glum expression; the legs were too crooked to be sure that they could hold any weight and the back support had busted loose. The only thing that even looked intact at all was the seat, and even that had a particularly huge dent in the side. "Eh, I think I'll stand, thanks," she answered with a downed tone in her voice.

The other Titans stepped nearer, but only just enough to get a good view of what went on after Robin pushed on the speaker; as soon as he did, he jumped back, as though he'd just plucked a very sensitive tripwire and was unaware of what kind of trap it would set off. Now, the words of the pair inside were audible to all in the room. "So, Jennifer, let's start with how you got the jewel in the first place."

Jinx's expression changed again, having gone from depressed to neutral. Although she knew she couldn't keep her emotions from Raven, and Cyborg probably had a lie detector in there somewhere, Jinx assumed that Robin was a master at body language, and having him catch something would set off some sort of intricate chain of alarms in his head and get her thrown in jail. "All I know is that it fell on me," she answered, holding a tone that neatly matched her lax face, "It was while I was out walking. I know that funny things fall from the sky, but since jewelry isn't the first thing you ever hear of, I figured I was more than lucky and didn't push it."

Putting on an even bigger show of just how 'calm' and 'emotionless' she was, Jinx leaned her shoulders into the corner and crossed her arms in a way that seemed to better resemble her trying to fit into the small space than look intimidating. As Jinx had made her casual answer, Raven slipped a notepad and pencil from under her cloak, scribbling down quickly the summary of what was said. "If you didn't steal it, why did you try to escape?"

There were a few ways that Jinx could reply. She could, of course, claim that she was still jumpy around them, and surrounding her at night like that really wasn't the greatest way to approach a nervous ex-thief. Of course, that was really just a lame excuse, and she would have to come up with something better. Could she... tell them the truth? No, only an idiot would tell everything. She'd already let her jaw flap about just how she got it; it wasn't as though it didn't already sound like a lie, and if they did believe her it would save her some trouble anyway. But still, like Raven would believe her at all if she was like, 'Oh, I just couldn't control myself- no, really, I couldn't, there's this spirit inside my head now, came from the gem. Funny story, right?' There was no freaking way, not even Raven would take that one.

What else could she say, though? She couldn't blame it on her itchy attacks and perhaps... a shot or two on the way out? Her reflexes shouldn't have been so fast- Hell, nobody's should have- but _they_ didn't have to know that. "I had a little bit of rum on the way out, so I didn't exactly realize who it was at first when-"

"Cut the crap," Raven interjected, her sharp comment invading on Jinx's explanation. So, it seemed that one was a bust.

Jinx was starting to get a little irritated by that point; part of her wanted to escape as much trouble as she could, but with the interrogator from Hell in front of her, there was hardly anything she could do about that, while another part wanted to open up and spill her guts because she cared about them. Raven was a dear, _dear _friend, one who she'd hurt emotionally, and she'd hurt one physically, coming close to doing it to another. '_All because of that freaking stone. Should've thrown it down a storm drain_,' she thought exasperatedly.

It just came over her then, as if beads of lava were pulsing through her veins instead of blood. The anger had been packed very tightly and put away for a few minutes, but being stuck in a limbo like that, where it all had to be clean cut, black and white, it set off the little ball like a cherry bomb, and it came too suddenly for Raven to react properly. In what felt like a nanosecond, Jinx was already on top of her and painfully gripping Raven by the shoulders. The witch could care less if this led to her being a red smear on the wall on the far side of the room; that gem had caused her enough trouble, and in a prison for metahumans, even with her power she'd eventually fall. That was the _last_ thing she'd have ever wanted. Getting so close that their noses touched, the coral-eyed sorceress pinched the large piece on her choker and held it as ner as she could to Raven. "This. This is what's been making me act so weird. What kinda idiot would hit their friends, run from them like they were murderers, and then freak out in their house? That's not me. _You_ should know that by now."

Wincing slightly from the pain, Raven whispered harshly, "Let go. You're hurting me."

Her chest heaving, Jinx pushed herself off of Raven and stood with her hands clenched into fists at her side, her feet just spread out enough to look threatening. "Rae, this thing has been driving me crazy! Get it off, break it, turn it to dust, or at the very least, _get it to shut up_!"

"Shut up?"

"Yes, shut up, be quiet, zip the lip, button up, whatever else ya wanna-"

"It talks? How?"

Jinx knew she'd said more than was necessary by then. Now that someone knew it was more than just a shiny rock, Raven would probably use that as an excuse to get into her head and put a bunch more crap on her into the records- her paranoid side was talking again. Maybe that spirit inside the gem had a better hold on her than she thought; as much as she distrusted the authorities, Jinx still doubted that Raven would invade her like that. Raven, in the meantime, wrote down on the little pad that the gem was possessive and speaks. Turning to the speaker at the corner, Raven pressd the small activation button on the side and called out to Robin, "I'm going to have to use my powers. You guys won't be able to see anything for awhile."

Her eyes turning white for a brief flash, Raven draped the space in a thin film of black energy, impeding sight from the outside. The only light that showed inside was exuded by the incandescent bulb at the very center of the ceiling, and it flickered weakly as the darkness came near, settling to a dim glow when it stopped its sputtering. In utterance of her mantra, Raven extended a hand forward, and a jagged bolt of blackness shot towards Jinx's throat. She made an instinctive squeak, although it didn't make any attempt to choke, strangle, or otherwise wrest the life from her body. Instead, it gently took hold of the valuable piece of jewelry dangling from the middle of her choker.

RrRrRrRrRrRrR

Although to Jinx it would only appear to have been a few seconds, Raven's mind could have spent hours inside that stone, from her perspective. When her projection opened her eyes, Raven found herself surrounded by clouds of swirling, quicksilver mist, so thick she couldn't look down and see any farther than her midsection. Looking up, there was the occasional break in these clouds, showing a sky of midnight blue decorated with so many stars that it seemed to have less darkness than cosmic glitter. The starlight was enough to shimmer through the mist and at least let her see that she was walking into more clouds; an immense amount of light seemed to be coming from the sky at another point, which Raven assumed to be the moon, although she couldn't see it yet. At that, she ambled through the shining fog wordlessly.

It wasn't for what felt like twenty minutes of walking before Raven caught sight of anything other than the damned fog. At first, the shape looked like nothing more than an amorphous blob of misplacen shadow, but as the demoness drew nearer, she could tell that it was humanoid. Soon, they were approaching one another, and once they were within mere feet of each other, Raven could see it for what it truly was: a very tall, nude, muscular, wild-looking woman with a mane of white hair that seemed more fitting for a lion than any sort of biped, feathered and wispy. Her eyes and skin, though... they almost perfectly matched Starfire's, her orbs being lime green with a darker, leafy green for her irises, and the tone of her skin was that orange-tinged tan, yet it held a weathered look about it. She was a Tamaranean, no doubt about it, perhaps even a seasoned warrior among them, as her build dwarfed Kory's by some degree, but... what was one doing on Earth from several thousand years ago?

"Mine sincerest of greetings, o Dark One," the Tamaranean spoke, the Middle English not going without understanding.

Raven was in a stupor, staring blankly for a few seconds, before she recomposed herself. "And to you too," she replied, having little else to say.

"Art thou here to question mine actions upon thine significant other?"

At that, Raven stopped for a second. How much did-

"Oh, I know much indeed, Fiendish One," the Tamaranean said, leaning toward Raven and stepping in her direction like a beast stalking prey. "'Tis in my knowledge that both the cat-witch hath feelings for thee, and thou hold the same for her, though thou dost shy from it as if 'twere the plague. She admireth thy aloofness, which maketh her romantic victories all the sweeter. The cat-witch also doth fondleth herself to thoughts-"

Her heart thumping audibly and her face burning, Raven watched as the mist disintegrated, revealing a lunar satellite that couldn't have been covered by a fist hovering in the sky. A rush of wind had cut off what the Tameranean was saying, and she saw that the both of them were standing on a solid floor of nothing. The sudden shock of the words and the parting clouds snapped Raven from her otherworldly trance, bringing her back to the reality of the material world. Gasping loudly, Raven's pupils had shrank to pinpoints in her blue-violet eyes as the spell broke. Jinx rushed to her side, kneeling and holding her by the shoulders, a worrisome look on her face. "Rachel, are you alright?" she asked with great concern.

For the first couple of seconds, Raven didn't answer. As she regained her sense of awareness, she answered, "Jinx, you have a serious problem. She _knows_ you. She knows _every intimate detail_ about you."

((This one came out a bit longer than I'd wanted, by about five hundred words I think, but that's alright. At least I got it out. My updates will be kinda slow on any of my fics, and not because of writer's block, but mostly just because I take time on a few things. Well, R&R, and I hope you can bear with me on this thing.))


	4. Chapter 4

(Hope I get the dialect right for the OC.)

mMmMmMmMmMmMm

Although it was among the last of places he'd ever want to be, Mammoth was still certain that there were other locations far more foreboding, not to mention exponentially less hospitable, than the state's metahuman prison. Even maximum security was bearable, to a degree; most of the people there were bendable, as they recognized him as one of the strongest there, if not the strongest, and he was the only one with the nerve to show resistance to the guards, despite the special weaponry they wielded. Sure, he hurt like Hell the next day- he swore those clubs were maces that could take out Cinderblock's knees- but he made the lasting impression that he had the biggest pair out of anyone there, so no one was to mess with him.

The fact that he didn't even get a real trial pissed him off as well; he assumed that it was part of the reason he had so much frustration to take out on the security when he got there. All he basically had to show up for was for them to decide how long they were going to put him away for, which, thankfully, wasn't very long; thanks to the efforts of Jennifer, while she was still part of their little group, her and Seemore managed to clean up their tracks pretty well, and the Titans weren't brought into this one, strangely enough. They had signed some sort of waiver on business of national security, or something. Boy, his and Mike's luck was starting to take a change for the better, considering what it normally was. If things went how they usually would, the two of them would have had every minute detail brought against them, and they'd have each probably gotten a life sentence apiece. Now, the most they had was about thirty months, considering they only took one or two pieces- oh, did he say two? It's a shame nobody noticed the gold and lapis loupe in his ear along with the other rings. As he lay in his bed, sore and bruised, throbbing over most of his body in general, Mammoth smiled spitefully. He wasn't quite as stupid as they thought.

He had a window cell, although the bars were made of a tungsten alloy that he'd have a hard enough time to bend, and even if and when he did manage to do that, the hole would be too small for him to squeeze through. The concrete was reinforced with some kind of fibrous-tempered rebar bullshit, so busting through the walls would be an utter and complete waste of time. He figured Gizmo would be able to whip something up out of the plasticware and figure out the guards' work patterns within the week, and make an escape plan. He painfully rolled over, grunting at the discomfort, but relishing the few rays of sunlight that rolled atop him through the grate in his window. Little time was offered for him to enjoy his relaxation however; from a distance, he could hear the _bang-ang-ang-ang-ang-ang-ang_ of the guards dragging their clubs across the bars of everyone's cells. Stiffly, he rose from his bed with a grumble; nobody shared a cell with him. He guessed that he was arranged into a solitary cell intentionally, because the cells on either side of him both had pairs of prisoners- the couple to his left he was distinctly aware of.

The guard who was whacking about stopped on Mammoth's, although it wasn't because he chose to do so. Mammoth had stepped up to the bars and snatched the club from the man's hand, snapping it between his thumb and forefinger. Apparently, it wasn't among the ones used for the assault yesterday. Growling, he muttered, "We get the point."

The guard, while a bit stunned at how suddenly it was turning into an exciting morning, managed to maintain his better judgment, and without saying a word, drew what resembled a pistol with a large tube instead of a normal barrel. Pulling the trigger, a whistling noise reached Mammoth's ears, and he felt a prick in his chest; looking down, he saw a little syringe, emptied of its contents, and his eyes suddenly began to droop. Before he could even object, Mammoth was on the floor, face first and in a haze, a small line of drool trailing down his cheek. The last he heard before going unconscious was the click of a walkie-talkie and the guard saying, "Yeah, we got a bit of an issue with Baran Flinders, gonna need some back up to drag him back to the infirmary..."

TtTtTtTtTtTtT

To have someone possess you, even if it isn't as bad as something like the Gadarene Demoniacs, would still be pretty terrible. The Titans even had to miss the trial for Mammoth and Gizmo because they had something so perilous, so outright dangerous on their hands. Jinx actually was close enough to those biblical possessions, now that they thought about it; there were points when the coral-haired metahuman would seem to go stark-raving mad for a time and throw a fit, and something about the spirit inside made her strong enough to dent Cyborg's armor, which was probably also strong enough to pop standard chain links if she gave them a hard enough tug. According to their observations, the only things that she had yet to do were slice herself open with rocks and viciously guard some family tomb.

The morning after the interrogation was unusually silent, and troublingly awkward. Although nothing came to bother them again that night, none of them could help but worry that Jinx might lose control of the situation and her body, and then freak out over everyone again. For all they knew, the thing inside was a fast learner, and probably knew half of their weaknesses by now- it knew everything that Jinx did already, and was probably able to interpret it umpteen times better than she was, even with her training she'd had at the HIVE. It was almost as though she was at the risk of switching between being an all-new Slade and being herself again. Just being around her was unsettling for most of the group. Particularly for Robin and Raven, as Richard thought of her as the most threatening thing to have entered their Tower next to Raven or Slade himself, and Raven's history brought about many feelings that were darkened by her recent encounter, even with the genuine explanation. They let her sit at the table, and everyone ate their food and drank their coffee and tea without saying anything more than necessary, which was mostly just asking for something to be passed and answering. Garfield had even jumped when Jinx offered him honey for his warm drink. After an awkward pause, she sighed and took her teacup to the couch to sit away from the rest of them.

Although everyone else continued eating, Robin stared intently, looking up from his newspaper with an untouched cup of coffee in his hand. He realized that they were all being a bit too paranoid; even he, the one who would push himself beyond normal human limits to ensure the security of his comrades, thought they were applying too much pressure, and that they should apologize. But... he never could do that. Honestly, at least.

Thankfully, Starfire was the one who saved the day. After downing her vile concoction of mustard, horseradish, and fish paste, she floated to the back of the enormous sofa, propping herself up on her hands and leaning over Jinx's shoulder. "Jennifer, you are not feeling welcome?"

Turning to look at the young alien woman depressingly, Jinx answered, "No, Kori, not really."

"Is it that someone threatens to poison your food if you enter their room again?"

Raven choked on her own tea slightly.

"Nah."

"Of course! It is that the underarm of Beast Boy has acquired a repulsive stench, and it is fairly intimidating," Starfire put forth.

Before Beast Boy could voice his objection, Jinx smiled and said, "No, it's not that. He does need to shower, though."

Screwing her face in an effort to come up with what could be bugging her friend so badly, Starfire finally came to a conclusion after ten seconds of what looked like her trying to make her head explode. "Then it must be that you believe us all to be lunatics and serial rapists and are under the impression that we have kidnapped you and hold you prisoner, so you avoid us at any moment you get!"

There was a pause, as those words that had just come out of Starfire's mouth sunk into Jinx's brain, along with everyone else's at the table. It was about four seconds after the dead silence that Jinx burst into laughter, an uncontrollable cackle that resounded throughout the entire building. Soon, Cyborg, then Beast Boy, then Robin followed in the merry mirth. Raven merely smiled. Starfire looked utterly confounded. "What is so humorous?" she asked.

Barely able to convince her lungs that breathing was a good idea, Jinx managed to wheeze, "Kori... you don't know... just how _backwards_... you are!"

"Backwards?" Starfire turned her head over her shoulder, still floating and turning in a full circle before facing Jinx again. "I am afraid I do not understand, Friend Jennifer."

Snorting, and then calming herself enough to speak clearly, although her trademark Cheshire grin decorated her face, Jinx clarified, "If anything, it's more that everyone else is more afraid that I'll do something to them, Star. I would be closer to being the rapist than any of you guys."

As those words came from her mouth, Jinx suddenly didn't feel so giddy anymore, as though each syllable had its own bitter, unsavory tasting residue to leave on the very tip of her tongue. The thought struck her again that she was indeed very dangerous, and was being held here for more than just her own safety. It made the pit of her stomach twist itself into unthinkably complicated and painful knots; at least, that was how she visualized it, considering how it felt. Considering the silence that befell the rest of the room, it seemed they had all come to the same conclusion and held similar feelings towards the situation. Beast Boy slouched his shoulders and looked to the linoleum floor, kicking his feet depressingly. "Whoa... total buzzkill..."

Setting down the newspaper, Robin changed the subject sharply. "I'd say it's about time to head into the training room. We've always got to stay in top shape, you know. Also, it would give us a chance to see just what's up with Jinx and whatever's in the stone around her neck." Everyone except for Jinx and Raven nodded, Raven merely keeping her neutral expression and Jinx looking slightly worried, as she recognized this for what it was: testing.

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

"Alright, everyone who's got anything fragile is wearing the armor they need, right?"

Nearly everyone was wearing some sort of impractically strong armor for the sake of their own protection. Beast Boy had a vest that would stretch and conform to his body as he changed, if only to a certain extent. Cyborg had nanotube fibers under carbon steel plating; that night hadn't been forgotten. And Robin himself wore something that looked like nanotubes and Kevlar, as if he was just making sure. Starfire wore nothing extra, as she matched the excess strength Jinx was bestowed, and Raven considered her powers more than enough to protect herself.

The room was huge, about fifty yards long, forty wide, and the floor was a variety of terrains: everything from a grassy field to a moist dirt road, a forest floor to a sandy beach. In the center was a hill that had a gentle incline, starting out with a convergence of the terrains, and then turning into gravel, and then a small crag at the top. All of the Titans were scattered throughout, Jinx positioned on the far end from Robin. "Try not to take this personally Jinx, but we need to know just what that stone has made you capable of. One of the biggest things we noticed was it made you stronger and more reflexive, and testing it out in here would be the best place we've got," Robin explained.

"Sure, _Dick_," Jinx replied snidely, placing a hand on her hip as she waited for the signal to start. Robin coughed as though she'd struck a nerve.

"Go!"

Wearing a pair of jeans and a tee herself, Jinx shot forward at Beast Boy, who immediately transformed into a gorilla. Without changing her speed one jot, she elegantly flipped onto the ape's head, from which she made a bounding leap to the gravelly hill. Here Starfire waited, and anticipated the twist that Jinx casually performed. After all, Jinx wasn't trying very hard, and was expecting-

'Foolish girl, bow!'

Her legs suddenly, and quite painfully, shot apart as she bent forward and ducked Starfire's attempt to tackle her to the ground. With a free arm, she even delivered a push that knocked Starfire down, and then kicked the alien, somehow with enough force to fling her behind Beast Boy, who had begun rushing her as a wolf. 'Fist, to thine right!'

And as hard as she could, Jinx punched directly to her right without looking, and felt her knuckles impact a metal plate that was repelled by her blow. A quick glance was all that it took to see Cyborg grinding into the earth. Although her hand throbbed, she ignored it for the moment, and focused on the green lupine that dashed madly at her, making a leap for her chest. Catching his forepaws, Jinx held him back and threw him down, stunning him long enough for her to punt him over the hill. Just as she'd finished this, Jinx had turned to catch the remaining three coming for her, Robin at the peak of the triangle. She ran for them as well, but not in a straight line; she arched in Raven's direction, but was unable to really get anywhere, for as she'd almost gotten to her, Robin threw out a series of smoke bombs. Robin was trained with these, she was sure. Cyborg had the technology, and Raven was able to sense more than just someone's heartbeat. As she began to choke on the foul smoke, Jinx merely stood where she was, and waited for the blows to come. She figured that she was screwed anyway.

'Bend!'

Doing as she was told without even considering what was being told to her, Jinx leaned backwards almost far enough to be in the bridge position, and watched the smoke above her stomach swirl three times: once from a staff, another from a beam, and the last time from a wave of dark force. 'Leap to thine right and kick!'

Obeying explicitly, feeling as though she had no control of her body anyway, Jinx flung herself to the right and made a blind roundhouse that she felt connect with someone's side. Raven. She heard Raven yelp in pain, and although she wanted to stop the session, the force that drove her to kick like that made her continue fighting. As soon as she landed, Jinx charged through the smoke, making a small jump as she drove her knee into Cyborg's lower torso. She had ran so fast that as her joint made contact, Cyborg was the one to bounce off yet again, this time with a ding in his armor. Looking down, as he'd cleared the smoke, he laughed to himself. She actually _dinged_ him, in some of his best armor too.

Finally being left between her and Robin, Jinx skidded to a halt and watched as the smoke cleared. She stood on a mix of pine needles and soft, mossy soil, while he was firmly planted on clay, ochre, and embedded gravel. Whipping out his extendable bo, Robin struck his fighting pose and beckoned Jinx forth with a taunting hand. 'Ignore his lure, the Robin wishes to do naught but draw thee into his trap,' the spirit warned her.

Taking heed, Jinx began to circle instead of running forward, Robin following suit. Their eyes never left contact, the both of them taking each step with such care and intent is was as though they were tigers, judging the last possible moment to leap in at their prey. In fact, they were so focused on each other that, were it not for the warning inside her head, Jinx would have been knocked over by a dirt clod the size of a Volkswagen beetle. Dropping to the floor, she watched Robin jump and clear the lump of clay, just far enough to land in the moist earth and slip, falling face first. Jinx took advantage of the moment and swept her leg in Raven's direction again, hitting nothing, but it gave her the momentum to kick off the ground fluidly and avoid another earthen projectile.

Raven hovered mere inches off of the ground, one hand clutching her side, the other held outward as she attempted to find something to launch in the metahuman's direction. Nothing was coming, and Jinx was rushing as fast as she could in her direction. 'Drive thy heel to her face!' Jinx heard, and she leapt to the air, doing as she was told, a look of desperation on both of their faces as the shoe was about to make contact-

WHAM.

A loud cracking sound was heard as the rock from the center of the training facility was slung into Jinx's body, flinging her from Raven's face to the far end of the arena. The rock stopped and fell to the ground in front of Raven, but the sorceress had not, and at that, she was unconscious and bleeding, completely motionless, save for her shallow breaths. "Jennifer!" Raven gasped.

MmMmMmMmMmMmM

His _eyes_ hurt.

His _head_ hurt.

His _chest_ hurt.

Hell, his _ass_ hurt, and he really didn't wanna know why on that one. Feeling a slight pain in his wrists, Mammoth looked down and saw that his hands were shackled, but in a cleverly sinister and effective way: the bands were only low-grade steel, but the bands had sharp spikes built into them that had already pierced his skin. If he so much as twitched a fingertip, they'd dig in deeper, and soon enough, he'd bleed to death. They'd already bled out a little, but nothing worth worrying about. Around him stood what looked like a small army of prison guards, about twenty of them, all armed with those heavy clubs. Now that he could get a better look at what they were, without having them plowing through his face, Mammoth saw that they had the handles, which were already thick enough, accompanied by a hefty striking area that was perfectly rounded and lined with studs that looked like steel turtle shells, giving the things a resemblance to a small _kanabō. _It was no wonder that they hurt so badly.

The warden of the prison was a tall and foreboding man, and although he was slender, not even Mammoth would dare to make a move against him. There seemed to be something more about him, and that it wouldn't be wise to do anything against his will. Ice blue eyes locked into Mammoth's dark orbs, bare, smooth face resting over his interlocked fingers as he stared intently at the hulking mass of muscle and confusion for a few strained, awkward seconds. His jet black hair slicked back shone in the flourescent lighting as his brow furrowed; Mammoth could feel the sweat drops beading on his forehead while the tension built steadily in the room, the silence only becoming all the more unbearable.

Suddenly shattering that unnerving quiet with his own cool, suave, yet still to-the-point voice, the warden said, "So, Flinders, it has come to my attention that you don't think you've made your point yet."

Mammoth simply raised a brow. His gaze unwavering, the warden stood from his chair and walked over to Mammoth, actually tall enough to _look him down_, which was fairly impressive, even if he was sitting. "You actually attempted to intimidate a guard? Take his blackjack and snap it, acting like that would impress him? I have each and every one of my guards here armed to the teeth, with enough ammunition and drugs to render unconscious, if not kill, five of you for each of them. Breaking a stick in front of him is _not_ impressive."

At that, Mammoth growled, feeling rather helpless and small at the moment, but trying to still sound strong. At the noise, the warden stopped moving at all, and sharply turned his head in Mammoth's direction, a snarl on his face. "You think you're so tough? You've got _nothing_, Flinders, freaking nothing!" and at that, he backhanded the immense man so hard that he fell from his chair; the fall made the spikes in the shackles sink further into his wrists.

His world spinning slightly from such a hard impact, Mammoth wondered how such a skinny man made such a devastating blow. He dared not push him any further, should he actually deliver something more substantial. "Lucky for you, you're not under my authority anymore. A very benevolent and generous man came by and paid for your bail. How in the Hell he came up with the money is beyond me, but he got it. In jail one day, and out the next. Nice to see, isn't it?" he spat, as though he had an extremely unpleasant taste on the back of his tongue.

Without even sparing Mammoth another look, he waved off his guards, telling them, "Take off the cuffs, and patch him up. Can't have him looking too bad when he gets picked up," as he sat back down in his chair, looking out the window behind his desk.

The shackles came off with a click and a grunt of pain from Mammoth, and he was lifted from the floor by about five guards, each of them straining to get him up. The infirmary was nearby, and he was soon bandaged properly, leaving only small red dots visible under the layers of gauze. Taken then to the release hall of the prison, chaperoned by pair of armed guards, Mammoth was given a set of clothes that somehow fit him, however tightly, and met with an office woman who simply told him the terms on which he was released. He apparently, in spite of the fact that he was bailed, would still be kept under surveillance, because of his record, among "other legitimate reasons", or so they said. Pshaw. They were just being racist bastards who were afraid of him because he wasn't quite human and was stronger than them.

Taking his papers, Mammoth swaggered back into the hall, feeling free, except around the waist, and took a deep breath as he walked towards the exit. It was when he saw a tall, chiseled man with white hair, one eye, a well kempt goatee and a sinister grin standing at the door, staring at him. It wasn't the man himself, but the air about him that was so eerily familiar, and Mammoth couldn't shake it; it made him want to turn back and have another go at the warden. "Ah, Baran," he didn't _say_ so much as _molest_ when the words fell from his lips, "it's so nice to see you. I'm the one who's going to be watching over you for the next month."

He felt his spine melt into nothingness as the words floated into his ears. Although he didn't remember ever meeting this man, he swore that he must have before, because every instinct his brain had was telling him to run away, to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction of that man. The utter wrongness of just how he sounded, how he felt, made Mammoth want to flee and hide away for a very, very long time. Stepping forward, his smile only stretching ever wider, the man continued in his disturbing voice, "Is something wrong? Perhaps it's because I haven't introduced myself? You may call me Mr. Wilson," extending a hand.

Mammoth looked down at the Mr. Wilson's palm. It looked as though it had seen much use, but he still took fine care of it- scars decorated his skin, but much of it appeared to be soft and supple. Taking hold of it with a great amount of reluctance, Mammoth felt that it did indeed feel soft, but he could tell that it had a certain resilience as well. All it did was make him trust Wilson even less, as it was just all the more strange and therefore more dangerous in Mammoth's eyes.

They parted hands quickly. "Alright then, Baran, let's get going. I've got your only ride, and I'm sure you want to get out of here as soon as you can."

As much as he hated to admit it, Mr. Wilson was right; he had the only practical way out of the joint. Unless he wanted to walk from there to his apartment, which was miles upon miles away, he was stuck. "... Shit."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Reaching the SUV in the parking lot, Mammoth got into the thing, feeling somewhat cramped in the passenger's seat. He simply stared forward, unwilling to look in Mr. Wilson's direction, for fear of seeing something that would make him soil himself. He may have the audacity and power to sway other prisoners to his will, but this wasn't the place to flaunt strength and try to make people think one was tough. Someone as creepy as him was on the list of people not to associate with to any degree. "It's almost a shame that you're so quiet, Baran. No one can always be silent, going through life without making themselves known. Although..." Mr. Wilson said with a stroke to his chin, "silence does have its advantages."

Making a short glance towards Mammoth, raising his brow, Mr. Wilson awaited an answer. "Nothing? Not even another one of your colorful grumbles? Oh, you're no fun at all," he snorted, waving off Mammoth's utter refusal to speak.

The rest of the drive to Mammoth's home was rather uneventful, save the moment that they passed through what Mammoth recognized as the neighborhood that was Jinx's current residence. It wasn't totally run down, but he had to admit that it was pretty ghetto altogether; at least it wasn't the bunch of slums that he and Gizmo lived in. Unexpectedly, Mr. Wilson waved a hand to the left, and told Mammoth, "You know, I have an apartment a few blocks from here. I'll give you my number, and you can stop by if you need any help."

Rather stunned, and somewhat disturbed by the offer, Mammoth confirmed nothing to the man. Mr. Wilson simply laughed softly to himself. As they continued down the avenue, the buildings continued to deteriorate into decrepit, ruinous things, most of them looking either condemned or otherwise unlivable. Finally stopping at one of the more healthy looking constructions, Mr. Wilson stepped from the SUV, and saw what looked to be a metahuman beggar at his feet, covered in ragged clothes and filth. He sniffed distastefully, kicking him out of the way as he walked up to the front door and opened it for Mammoth, letting him in, and taking a look inside himself. At the sight of the mess of gadgets and food wrappers, along with some unidentifiable stench that wafted along the heavy air upon opening the door, Mr. Wilson wrinkled his nose. "Baran, you have _got_ to clean up this place. You can't possibly be this lazy."

Mammoth stepped up to the door with a tired expression. "Don't call me Baran."

A look of surprise suddenly came to Mr. Wilson's face to replace the disgusted expression as he suddenly remembered, "Oh, before I forget Baran, I've gotten you a little gift," reaching into his pocket and drawing out a cell phone as he ignored Mammoth's words altogether. "Don't worry about minutes, and the range is excellent. You can call me from anywhere in Jump City, and a good range out of city limits. You can text as well, if you don't feel like speaking. Here's your charger."

Handing Mammoth all of the parts, Mr. Wilson waved to him as he walked towards the SUV. "I'll see you tomorrow, Baran. We've got to find you a job."

"Don't call me Baran!" Mammoth snarled through gritted teeth.

As Mammoth stepped inside and shut the door, he felt the cell phone vibrate, signaling a text message. Flipping it open to read the message, he saw that it came from Mr. Wilson, and it read: 'WHAT ABOUT MR. FLINDERS?'

Shutting the phone, Mammoth roared as loudly as he could, the roof shaking visibly as he did so, "FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

(A/N: And yes, i realize this tool longer than I said it would, but I've been having writer's block lately. I've labeled this Romance/Humor for a reason, and I've tried to make some parts of it funny, at least a little.)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Oy. Apologies for the pace that I'm working at, but I'm juggling two fics at a time here, and the both of them have at least two separate scenarios that are being followed at a time. It's a little hard to write them at any reasonable speed and still make something respectable.

And again, the OC's Middle English is a bitch to write. Please excuse my mistakes, and point them out to me if you notice them. There are also a couple parts that seem really random, so expect weirdness.

JjJjJjJjJjJjJ

Waking up in the infirmary, Jinx could feel the remnants of her little aerial waltz with the boulder lingering in her body, mostly in her lower back and her ribcage. A groan of dulled agony escaped her throat wearily as she rolled her head over, finding that she was lying in some sort of hospital bed, and had a scanner-looking machine over her; it looked like she was getting an MRI, or an x-ray exam of some kind. Blinking away the blurriness that accompanied her coming to, Jinx caught sight of Cyborg, his steel and pressure-treated platic fingers rapidly pattering over a keyboard while his eyes kept watch over a monitor. Putting two and two together, Jinx was soon aware of what was going on, but didn't care. She was far too sore at the moment to be bothered with feeling violated at someone keeping track of every little thing that her body was doing.

Noting the fact that Jinx had awoken, Cyborg turned to her with a warm smile. "Mornin', Jay," he said in a friendly tone, his digits still working the keys incessantly.

Jinx replied tiredly, "Morning, Vic. How long was I out?"

His gaze affixed back to the computer, Cyborg answered, "Just about a day. We've been watchin' your rate of recovery all the while; that li'l gem you got sure is a funny thing. Here, look at this," and turning the monitor to display Jinx two pictures, he explained, "We got an x-ray o' the damage you got from that rock when Raven knocked you with it. See, ya'll got about five broken ribs, a bruised liver and pancreas, and three o' the vertebrae in your back got dislocated."

Amazed that she was alive at all, let alone the fact that she was able to move with little more trouble than the pain, Jinx wondered aloud, "And I survived this _how_...?"

"Well, we think your piece o' topaz there has somethin' to do with it. Even most folks with regeneration abilities don't fix their skeletons overnight without some help, it's mostly the fleshy stuff for 'em. Look at this, your ribs are almost completely healed, your spine's realigned itself, and your guts just about got fixed on their own too. Somethin's not right with that rock, Jay. Not even Raven's good enough t'be doin' that with her healin' powers in one go, maybe even a couple of 'em."

A few more blinks, this time out of disbelief. Sure enough, looking at the pictures on the screen, she had almost completely recovered. The 'almost' was the only reason she still hurt, so she assumed she would still have some time to wait before she could get back to doing crazy stunts like that again. However, the pain wasn't so impairing that she couldn't walk about the Tower, and possibly talk to the others. "Hey Vic, think you could let me outta here? I'm good enough to get up and around, I just won't be doing anything stupid," Jinx offered.

"Alright," Cyborg relented, disconnecting and moving the machine away from the bed. Just as Jinx was about to walk out the door, Cyborg said, his back turned, "Hey Jen."

Looking over her shoulder, Jinx replied, "Hm?"

"My internal computer calculated how hard you been hittin' things, like when you gave me the elbow in the parkin' lot."

Jinx's heart sank, as she knew that this could be nothing other than bad news. "With that kinda PSI, when you kicked at Raven, it woulda broke her jaw, shattered her cheekbone, and almost definitely snapped her neck. Even bein' half demon couldn't save her from that one. I'd say you saved her life, takin' the rock like that."

Gulping silently, Jinx continued her strained walk from the room, attempting with all futility to hide the pain in both her step and her heart. She'd almost killed Raven, and it was because of the gemstone that she wore about her neck. That was the last straw. She was going to get rid of it, once and for all.

rRrRrRrRrRrRr

Meditation did absolutely nothing to calm Raven's mind about what had occurred in the training room. As far as she knew, she'd killed Jinx, or put her in a coma, or made her a vegetable for life, or left her to some other sort of terrible fate. Her 'others' did little to help; Rage and Lust were especially irritating.

"**Baahahahahahaaaah! The little bitch deserved it, you know! So **_**irritating**_**, she drove us all mad with her taunts and jests. The crunching of her bones was so **_**satisfying**_**-**"

The one draped in a periwinkle cloak laid upon a bed of silk sheets, velveteen pillows and rose petals, relaxing in a rather suggestive position. "Oh, stop it," she interrupted, waving a hand at Rage. "We've been having a bad day ourselves, and all we need is to go and give Jinx a dose of that healing magic you've got Ray-Ray, then we can get... _down to business_."

Knowledge snorted at the obscenity and absurdity of the idea. "Even if we were to use our powers to heal Jennifer, considering her condition, she still wouldn't be fit for having sex. Especially with the sort of things you come up with, Lust. Not only that, I'd imagine that she wouldn't exactly be in the mood for such activities in the first place. That boulder should have been a deathblow, by all measurements and estimations. She's lucky to be alive, and I'm certain the shock of it is still waning."

After only a few seconds of awkward silence, all but Timid, Knowledge, and Raven herself rallied and bellowed in a united cheer full of spirit and agreement, "RAPE!"

Knowledge simply buried her forehead in her palms, groaning miserably. Timid recoiled and tried to make herself look as small as possible to the rest of the group who seemed to have nothing but violent, dirty, sweaty sex on the brain. Raven, however, had a vein pulse visibly on her temple as her face contorted with utter frustration at the idiocy the majority of her was showing. Gritting her teeth, she growled at them, "It's already been established that sex is not on my 'to do' list, now-"

"But-" Lust attempted to interrupt, but was cut off herself by Raven with a screeching, "SHUT UP!"

"**Hahaa, my influence taints you ever further-**"

"You too! I've had enough of this place for today..."

"**You can never escape-**"

"Ssh!" Raven held a finger to her pursed lips, repeating the noise everytime Rage did so much as make her mouth twitch.

Finally, just as Raven had turned her back, Rage cried, "**YOU-**" but was interrupted yet again, this time by a band of dark energy enveloping her mouth. A muffled roar could be heard from deep in Rage's throat, but to no avail; she was effectively gagged. Happiness could only buckle over with laughter, while Bravery stepped up and shoved Rage to the ground, a bold smirk decorating her face. Though the embodiment of Raven's fury attempted to leap to her feet so she could throttle the green-hooded one, she was kicked back to the ground easily and laughed at further by the others. Raven rolled her eyes at the chaos. "I should have just thrown Jennifer in prison."

SsSsSsSsSsSsS

Waking up early was something Starfire appreciated being able to do. It allowed her to see the sunrise during most months of the year, and the aromatic smell of the extra strong coffee she'd brew for everybody before they awoke usually was their alarm, save for Cyborg occasionally, when he wished to make a veritable feast of breakfast varying breakfast meats, accompanied by pancakes and waffles. This morning was no exception, although it was for a different reason that she was not the first to rise from bed: for, as she stretched much like her ancestral cat, popping the many bones in her back, she also caught ear of footsteps in the hallway, steps that had a slight irregularity to their pattern, as if they had a limp, or some sort of stiff gait. With a yawn, Starfire floated gracefully to the door, opening it quietly and seeing Jinx tread the hallway, stiffness included.

"Greetings and good morning, Jennifer," she said, the sleepiness having not quite worn off yet and making her voice crack audibly.

Turning and placing a hand on her back, Jinx returned, "Oh, hey Star," grimacing slightly. "What's up?"

"The sky, perhaps? I am certain that the Tower is erect, to say the least."

Suppressing a giggle, Jinx explained, "No, how're you doing?"

Her face brightening immediately, Starfire replied in an uplifting voice, "Oh! I am waking early to prepare the morning coffee! Would you desire to come with me and share its warm-yet-bitter goodness?"

Unable to hold back a grin from such a happy and laughable face, Jinx replied, "Sure, I'll have a cup. I need to wake up anyway." '_Besides,_' she thought to herself, '_I can wait for just a little bit on smashing this thing. It'd be best to have a little kick in my system if I'm going to have to fight for it._'

Following the Tamaranean girl that was suddenly full of piss and vinegar, flitting about the hall and whizzing around Jinx in circles and dizzying loops, the pink-haired witch entered the main room and flopped on the comfortable and very squishy couch. Starfire zoomed into the kitchen, where she began her operations with the coffee machine, dumping at least half a cup, maybe more, of dark roasted coffee grounds into the filter. In only a few minutes, the pot was full of the ebony liquid, steam being jettisoned from the spout. The warm, earthy scent wafted through the room and soon following, into the halls and the upper floors, aided by the ventilation system. The first to be seen was Cyborg, walking down the stairs and inhaling a deep breath of the air, laden with the smell of that delicious, all-natural energy drink. Next was Robin, who was wearing a navy blue tank top and grey sweatpants, but still leaving his eyes concealed by his accursed domino mask. The very ends of his lips were curled softly, and a rolled up newspaper was in his hand as he sat down at the table while Cyborg prepared breakfast. Next to wake was Beast Boy, looking to be some sort of zombie in a half-sleep, his nose dragging the rest of himself by the power of his schnozzle's sensitivity alone. He flopped into a seat, his forehead banging onto the table as he sighed, fatigue and tiredness still plaguing him.

The last of them to come to was Raven. Her expression read that she hadn't had a particularly good night; baggy eyelids, a furrowed brow, and a long, drooping frown. As Cyborg laid the last of the strips of bacon he could fit into the cast iron skillet, he glanced at her concernedly. "Yo, Rae," he said in a matching tone, "somethin' wrong?"

"Hrrrmrrm," she grumbled as she sat down.

"Oookay."

Jinx looked up at her, her expression more serious and demanding. "No, really, what's wrong?"

"Had a bad meditation." Raven's reply plainly advertised just how irritated she was, even if nobody really knew what exactly had twisted her nerves into a series of over-complicated knots. She was also very sure that they wouldn't _want_ to know either, because when two out of every three aspects of one's mind are willing to assault a guest in unspeakable ways, the subject wouldn't be something to discuss over a meal.

Knowing that most certainly wasn't the whole story, Jinx said to Raven, "We'll talk about it later," as she stood from the couch and poured a cup of coffee, stirring in about seven lumps of sugar.

Although Robin had found the conversation uninteresting, he noticed that Jinx was in abnormally good shape for someone who'd been assaulted with a small crag, and watched as she overloaded her brew with the stuff. Clearing his throat to grab her attention, Robin casually inquired, "Awful lot of sugar, don't you think?"

Raising a brow, Jinx answered, "Depends. Normally, I saturate my coffee and tea with the stuff. This here's a going a little light in comparison," taking a sip afterward. She puckered as the drink passed her lips, saying, "Still too bitter," and dropping another two lumps into her cup. Another sip, and she said, "Ah, much better."

Robin stared, his newspaper left on top of the table, forgotten. "Huh." Turning to Raven, he asked, "Did you ever drink anything she made you?"

"Once. Never again."

Jinx smiled into her cup.

Later, as the others ate their own varying breakfasts, Starfire turned to Raven, a curious expression on her face. A mouthful of pancake and sausage in her cheek, she sputtered, "Reffen, you were ishide the gemb, chrecht?"

"Swallow, Kori."

Gulping down the wad of food, Starfire repeated, clearly this time, "Raven, you were inside the gem, correct?"

Raven nodded as she picked at the fried egg.

"Did you witness the visage of the occupying spirit?"

Again, Raven nodded, this time with an actual bite of said egg.

"Would you be troubled to give us the description of this spirit?"

At that, Raven paused. What exactly the... _being_ inside resembled might not be such great news for everybody, considering some of the previous scandals they'd been involved with in that race's affairs. But, lying wouldn't exactly be a good choice either, because it was practically impossible around the team. Dammit. Conceding, Raven answered, "It... no, _she_, looks like a Tamaranean, but with white hair, like an albino lion or something. By the looks of things, she's really strong, even for a Tamaranean, and she's probably the basis for what Jennifer is getting her augmentations from."

Starfire dropped her fork to her plate, the silverware clanging loudly. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to be petrified, although whether it was with fear or simply shock was indeterminable. Beast Boy waved his hand in front of the alien's face. "Star... you alright?" he wondered cautiously.

In a sudden and violent smash of her fists to the table, making it jump dangerously close to flipping, Starfire shouted, "You must depict this being for me, for she resembles a hero of Tamaranean legend!" to which Beast Boy leapt away, his arms held up in what he knew would be a futile defense.

Eveybody was silent for a few moments, the only sound audible being Starfire's heavy breathing through her flaring nostrils. The squeak of many chairs backing away from the table was soon heard as well, and Robin mumbled to himself, "...not so hungry anyway..." as he stood and brushed some of the toast crumbs from his lap.

Jinx, however, was getting a little confused, not to mention frightened. A Tamaranean spirit, inside of her head? Not exactly the most comforting thought, especially considering that, if Starfire was one who was more adapted to modern human life, then how would she be able to deal with an ancient and powerful ghost like this? The thing probably had a will of iron, and a few tricks that she wasn't aware of yet. Great, a stronger, barbaric version of Starfire was locked around her neck. At least, that's what was suspected.

rRrRrRrRrRrRr

"Stop it."

"But I must see-"

"_Stop it._"

Making a sketch of the person she'd seen on her escapade into the white mists of the stone could only be made a more difficult and irksome task with a peppy young woman constantly leaning over her shoulder, and Raven was nearing the point to where she would telekinetically pin Starfire to the wall and hold her mouth shut. It was progressively becoming a more and more attractive prospect as the time dragged on, her being only able to draw so much at a time before having to count backwards from two hundred and forty backwards in intervals of twelve. Finally, after coming to the firm belief that her tolerance for irritation had just exceeded its former limits by miles, Raven presented to Starfire the finished product. A portrait of the being's face, along with her shoulders. Although the details were somewhat rough, Raven considered them satisfactory. It seemed Starfire did as well, for when she looked upon the picture, she squealed with joy. "It is just as my suspicions had predicted! It _is_ the one my thoughts were believing it to be!"

As Starfire spun around in mid-air, happiness radiating from her in waves, Raven looked on in confusion. "Who?"

Stopping her fanfare momentarily, Starfire exclaimed, "The pronunciation of her Tamaranean name would be unknown to Earthlings, but roughly it translates to 'Moonshadow', and she is one of the greatest heroes my people have ever seen!"

Tucking away the picture to show the others later, Raven said, "Oh really? Then how'd she end up here?"

Calming slightly, Starfire explained, "Upon Tamaran, stones exist known as _glyptars_. The ritual used is in reservation only for those most deserving of the honor, to which a warrior's spirit is imprisoned inside the gemstone."

"So, it's kinda like those Egyptian soul-jars?"

Jinx had walked up behind the two, and leaned on the table. A look of inquiry dressed her face as she asked the question, awaiting an answer. "Kind of," Raven answered.

"From the _glyptar_ in which is held the warrior, the spirit can communicate and aid the holder in combat, and even with their powers imbue the wearer," Starfire continued, "so you would have much of Moonshadow's strength and speed. That is why you can even overpower me in battle, Jennifer."

"Alright, that explains a lot," Jinx said as she crossed her arms, "but how the Hell'd it even get here in the first place? Like to see you answer that one."

While Starfire had to contemplate the idea for a moment, Raven had an answer, one that came very casually and unremarkably, as if it were as common as a murder of crows in a park.

"Aliens."

"Wha- huh?"

"Aliens, Jinx," Raven repeated, "Extra-terrestrials, creatures from beyond, whatever you want to call them."

Jinx's eyes rolled in mock understanding, still believing the entire situation to be unbelievably ludicrous. "Oh, right, those little Grays with enormous eyes that shove probes up your-"

"But Raven," Starfire said, obliviously interrupting Jinx, "How would the glyptar manage a journey through space all the way to Earth, especially from twenty-six lightyears in distance?"

A moment of thought, and Raven said, "I'm sure there were others long before you that could travel through space very fast. Just because a Tamaranean didn't take it here, doesn't mean it isn't Tamaranean at all. It was probably a gift back when aliens were more closely involved with people."

'Fast learners, they are indeed.'

Jinx's eyes snapped and fixated to an opposite wall, having apparently heard the voice come from said direciton. However, she knew the voice, and also that it couldn't possibly be coming from anywhere but the chaotic depths of her cranium. '_I thought you'd gotten the point when I told you to shut up,_' Jinx thought in what she thought was a fierce tone for something that would be a voice from someone's mind.

A bold, hearty laugh came from deep inside. 'Thou dost truly believe my silence t'be out of submission? Ne'er, not in a millennium thrice-over, have I once been dominated.'

Jinx huffed. The other two women simply backed away slowly, assuming that this conversation could get violent and possibly come to blows. Although Raven wasn't the type who could read someone's mind thought for thought, she could feel the irritability that seeped from the veins of Jinx, and the pride and haughtiness that pulsated from the stone. It was on those notes that she pulled Starfire away.

'_Three thousand years, huh?_' Jinx thought back, her thought-voice still retaining its annoyance, '_Last time I went to the museum, that must have been... oh, your most recent possessor before me. Getting sloppy, are we?_'

There was a pause, one that gave Jinx a pang of surprise. Usually, the voice was just as snide as she. '..._Hello?_'

Although the crystalline capsule remained silent for a few moments longer, it finally replied, 'I must... ponder my predicament. Please, I ask of thee, leave me to mine self for the time being.'

Jinx closed her eyes, furrowing her brows as she thought back, her telepathic connection snapping, '_Oh, so I'm supposed to just sit and let you have alone time whenever you ask, while I have to fight for a single moment of peace, knowing full well that you're probably just watching me and not saying a damn thing? Don't think so, old timer._'

Her voice growing to the point of being domineering and overpowering in an instant, the spirit yelled, 'Yes, thou shullen hold thy tongue, now ye shall!'

The call was audible to Raven and Starfire as well, resounding through the room like some sort of vocal grenade had exploded. Raven's empathic abilities let her catch the jagged spikes of irritation and sound retaliation, and a feeling of uncertainty that lingered afterward, along with a hint of wounded pride. Something told her that the entity that dwelled within the stone was getting confused, and something about it hurt its feelings.

As for Jinx, she suddenly felt a wracking pain in her skull and trailing down her spine, as though someone had buried an axe in her forehead and simultaneously dragged a butterfly knife through her back. Her knees turned into jelly, making her fall to them as her face contorted in agony, unable to even make noise as she began to get white spots clouding her vision. Hands gripping the sides of her head in a futile effort to withstand the pain, Jinx was immediately trying to be comforted by Starfire, who'd bolted to her side. In only a few seconds the pain faded, leaving Jinx panting, her head still throbbing. Starfire lifted her friend to her feet. "Jennifer! What is happening to your cranial area?"

Jinx wheezed in reply, "She's really got the power here... she made my head hurt. Bad."

MmMmMmMmMmMmM

Snoring away on his trashed couch, Mammoth was startled when he heard the buzz of the doorbell. Groggily standing with a stretch and a bestial yawn, he shambled to the door, scratching himself on his lower back as he looked through the eyeglass. He sighed as the sight registered.

Mr. Wilson.

The man who, now that he began recalling the events of yesterday, gave off the air of either a murderer or a rapist, probably both. Scowling, Mammoth opened the door to see Mr. Wilson in an upsdell red suit accompanied by a regalia violet undershirt and a jet black tie. The slim black belt around his waist was slightly unnerving, considering the silver buckle that looked like it had swords to decorate it. It made Mammoth think of the fact that he just knew the man would be more than able to slit his throat faster than he could blink. In spite of what the metahuman thought was going to happen, Mr. Wilson looked at the tall, beastly huge man in front of him, his one eye showing a casual attitude about the situation. In Mammoth's mind, that suit wasn't anywhere close to casual, but he had to admit that it looked great. "Snazzy suit. What's up?" he asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

Mr. Wilson nodded his thanks. "I've got you a job interview Baran, and we need to get you cleaned up." Peering at the rings around Mammoth's eyes, he added, "And perhaps a decent cup of espresso, considering your sleeping habits."

Grumbling to himself, Mammoth went into his bathroom to freshen up a little bit, inviting Mr. Wilson inside. A quick splash of cold water to his face, Mammoth then dried it off immediately and started combing out his lengthy hair and his goatee before braiding it again. Just that simple routine and he already felt much better. Getting a mild deodorant in his underarms and dabbling a little aftershave on his cheeks and neck, he stepped back out to be evaluated. "Good enough?"

Mr. Wilson cracked a grin. "Sufficient. At least you don't make someone want to retch. Get some real clothes on, and we'll be off."

Quickly switching yesterday's clothes with a black t-shirt that hugged his muscles and a pair of dark blue boot cut jeans, Mammoth and Mr. Wilson were out the door, and driving away from the slums the enormous man inhabited.

The middle of the city was packed with people and traffic. Being a bit of an aggressive driver, save being an utter asshole on the road, Mr. Wilson was still able to get to a coffee shop in a short time, parking in front of the glass doors. The lines long, it was a few minutes before they reached the counter. "I think it's an iced Chai tea for me, and make it large," Mr. Wilson ordered. "And what do you want, Baran? Don't worry about the cost, I'll have it covered."

"I'll have a colada. And stop callin' me that."

Mr. Wilson raised a brow, chortling to Mammoth, "You know that's meant for about four or five people to share, don't you?"

Mammoth shook his head. "I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

Snorting, Mr. Wilson answered, "Whatever you say," as his order was whipped up in record time.

Taking their drinks to a table by one of the windows, Mr. Wilson sipped quietly while Mammoth asked, "So, what is it that I'm gonna be doin' here?"

Pausing for a moment, the white-haired man answered, "You're going to be getting a job at the docks, loading the warehouses. A simple job to start with. If you put some effort into the quality of your work, you may actually get a fair deal on your paycheck."

A low, thrumming grunt in understanding. At that, Mammoth took a large gulp of his coffee, squinting slightly at the potency of the espresso's flavor. "Whoo. It's like gettin' a boot to the head in the morning."

"Told you so."

"Heh. I see what you meant there..." Mammoth slugged down another mouthful of the pungent drink, wincing as he felt the heat trail down his esophagus; perhaps he should have waited for a minute or two to let it cool down.

After finishing their drinks, they were off in the SUV again, headed for the bay. Only a few seconds on the road and Mammoth hesitated for a moment before asking, "What was with the tea?"

"Oh, I'm more than awake enough by about five o' clock. Inducing twitchiness from an overdose of caffeine isn't my idea of a good morning."

"Hm."

The drive didn't last long, as the streets leading to the docks were generally avoided, considering the crime wave and how most of the worse incidents seemed to take place there. Mammoth didn't really notice it himself, but he was constantly drumming his fingers on the window of the SUV, the caffeine having affected his nerves. As they stepped from the vehicle, Mr. Wilson introduced Mammoth to whom he supposed was his manager. Hands in his pockets to demonstrate his relaxed feel around someone who looked so dangerous, to give a message of security, Mr. Wilson said, "I've brought your new employee. Robert, this is Baran Flinders. I'm sure you'll both get along well." Turning to Mammoth, who was flexing his hands and then releasing them repeatedly, he finished with, "If something goes wrong, you have my cell number." Climbing into the SUV, Mr. Wilson drove away, leaving Mammoth behind with his new employer.

Rob was a large, burly man with a good amount of muscle, shaved bald and having a chin curtain. "Well, if we're gonna hire you, we'll need to see how well you can handle the job before we decide. If you get it, we'll have this day count towards your paycheck," he said in a voice that matched his body. As big a man as he was, it was still intimidating to have to look up at the giant metahuman in front of him.

Mammoth nodded. "So, where do I start?" Rob pointed at a load of crates that were stacked up before saying, "We gotta get that into B-twelve. With you around, I'm sure it'll take 'bout half the time it normally would. So c'mon, we're wastin' daylight."

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Working long into his shift, Mammoth was hefting over his shoulders crates that would take at least two strong men to lift and carry. Although he felt a little sore and sweaty, he appreciated the feeling of satisfaction it gave him to know that he was outdoing an entire working crew. Sitting down for a well-earned moment, Mammoth let his arms rest and recover their strength and resilience. Looking at the rest of the workers, laboring incessantly over what was left of their job while he took a break, he caught a glimpse of a shadow darting around the corner. Now wary of what was going on, he realized that in the darkness that was falling over the bay, someone could manage to find a path of least resistance to sneak into the open warehouse. He wasn't about to let some thief pilfer from his work, and so he followed the shady figure and found him attempting to work his way up to a window to infiltrate the place. "Hey, asshole!" he called out, "Whaddaya think you're doing?"

The would-be thief turned to Mammoth, and from there he recognized the skull on the mask; it was Red X! Dropping down to the ground, he cocked his head at Mammoth and said, "Have we met? Can't place your name, but you honestly look familiar."

The giant snarled in reply, "Oh yeah? You'll really know me when I'm done with you," stepping towards the well-armed burglar in long strides that showed his anger, having pent it all up since his first meeting with Mr. Wilson.

Sighing, Red X told him with a hint of a pseudo-warning, "If you get hurt, it's all your fault."

Mammoth heaved a ham-fist in Red X's direction, which was easily ducked and replied to with a swift kick to the side. Mammoth grunted in the small amount of pain he'd received, along with a healthy dose of aggravation. Trying to somehow land a hit on the lightning-fast thief, Mammoth blindly flung his foot out behind him, which Red X casually flipped over, delivering a punch to Mammoth's stomach, which he immediately regretted. Those abs were about as hard as rock, and he felt his knuckles crack on impact, the joints popping with sharp pain running down though his wrist. While Mammoth wheezed for a second as he felt himself get winded, Red X clutched his hand and growled angrily, then flicking away the ache he struck his fighting pose again. As soon as he recovered his breath, Mammoth clenched his fist and swung it in a massive backhand, which was ducked yet again, his hand smashing into a wall, the concrete falling to rubble around his lump of bone, sinew and muscle.

Although it hurt him none, the crack and rumble got the attention of the other workers, who walked to the building with various tools. Most of them looked deadly if they were to land a blow. Only a few seconds later, and Rob himself showed up, a .38 magnum in his hand. "Hey! The Hell d'you think you're doin', chump?" he yelled out.

Red X looked on at them, his eyes thinning as he considered his options. He _could_ try to beat them all senseless, considering he could tell that these guys weren't even half as fast as himself. But that pistol was scary, even with the Kevlar combined with his speed, taking a bullet would knock him on his ass and could very well kill him. As unnervingly frustrating as it was, he'd like to keep his hide and steal another day. "Later, losers," he huffed as he set off a smoke bomb to distract them while he fled.

Coughing and sputtering, Mammoth and his fellow workers dashed from the smoke that smelled like a mixture of phosphorus and sulfur. As soon as everybody was out, the metahuman spied Red X flipping and leaping acrobatically over the buildings, making his way to the city again. His train of thought about what he'd do to the punk when he saw him next was interrupted by Rob clapping him over the shoulder. "Thanks, he'd have probably gotten off with somethin' valuable if you didn't catch him like you did. I'll note to put that one in your records, 'kay?"

Mammoth nodded, suddenly overcome with the uncomfortably familiar desire to punch down a brick wall.

MmMmMmMmMmMmM

Hope this one came out well. R&R, please.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: You get to see a person or two get the Hell beaten out of them this chapter. Hooray! As always, R&R.

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

Jinx felt rather privileged the next day, as in spite of all that had happened yesterday, Robin had declared that they should test her in the field. He explained that staying in such a controlled situation as their training room wasn't as solid of proof of what effects the gemstone had on her, and so they should give it a more real setting to put forth and show its true colors. They had already tested whether or not her newfound abilities were still available after yesterday's incident, and it was only a short session before they decided they remained intact.

Now, all they had to do was wait for a crime to be committed-

_BWEEEPBWEEEPBWEEEP!_

At the harsh shrieking of the blasted alarm, Robin may as well have flown through the air as he sped to the supercomputer that gave away the location of the crime. "It's the electronics store, about twelve blocks away. Raven and Jinx, the two of you will go at this on your own, and unless something goes wrong, Jennifer's the only one to act on it. Understood?"

"Gotcha."

"Mhmm."

At that, Raven enveloped Jinx in the signature dark energy she wielded, forming into her namesake bird and disappearing through the floor.

Jinx had always held a love-hate relationship with Raven's mode of transport. It felt like she was being twisted into several knots and then stretched like pizza dough. It lacked pain, but it was very disconcerting. As it ended though, the light-headedness and tingling sensation that followed gave her a sense of fading adrenaline, as if she'd just stepped off of a roller coaster. Shaking the blurriness from her eyes and pulling her frizzled ponytail back tightly, Jinx focused on what was going on behind the glass door to the shop. There was a short, squat man with bright orange hair that was pulled back into a greasy mess of a ponytail. Bifocals adorned his face, making his eyes look like they belonged to some sort of insect. His rotund belly protruded from the bottom of a shirt that was covered in stains from bean dip and ketchup, and he was wearing a filthy trenchcoat from which he whipped some sort of remote. Not wanting to bother looking at what he had on for pants, Jinx simply threw open the door as a flash erupted from the remote's antenna, making various machines inside the place burst to life.

The cash register opened up and began spitting change like buckshot at the workers, while three stands warped themselves to look as though they were faceless stick-men with an abnormal amount of limbs. The last of them to animate from the burst of energy was a huge, seventy-four inch plasma screen television. The inner wiring lashed out from the sides like a fibrous mass of tentacles, all of them extending and whipping the customers and employees. Raising her voice above the chaotic mess, Jinx shouted, "Hey fatso! Finally leave your mama's basement?"

The short nerd of a man turned around and whined, "I help pay the rent! We've got a real good agreement go- YOU!" pointing at her like some sort of fiend when he realized who he was talking to. "You! You, you you-"

"Me what?" Jinx snapped back, growing excessively irritated at his stammering and a little uncomfortable with Raven staying out of sight. "Do I stand out that much?"

Control Freak growled fiercely before screeching, "Witch! Leave, lest I smite thee and damn thy soul to Hell!" putting on a terrible posh accent that he'd obviously learned by watching older cinematic crap.

"How's about I just kick your ass and be done here?" Jinx flung her arm to the side, and a wave of hex splashed across the enemies that stood in her way. The cash register was immediately silenced, spitting the drawer to the wall where it smashed, and the register began to smoke. Two of the racks were sliced in half by the bolt, the energy not even bothering to rob them of any sort of fortune. Control Freak, however, fell onto his back, rolling around clumsily as he struggled with his short limbs, attempting to get back up like some sort of turtle.

The television cracked a few wires in Jinx's direction, attempting to hold her off while it used others to lash around Control Freak and bring him to his feet. At first dodging effortlessly the few cords that attacked her, Jinx then grabbed a protesting rack and swatted away the next volley of copper and rubber. However, even though Jinx had parried the assault, the wires then gripped the pole, jerking back towards the TV. Jinx resisted, pulling in the opposite direction and then wrapping the wires slowly around the end. As they continued their tug of war, Control Freak began to babble at how the metahuman girl was laying out his electronic minions so easily. Finally, having garnered enough of the wire, Jinx pulled back hard one more time before letting go of the rack. It flew like a javelin, spearing the television through the screen with a resounding _CRACK_, and electrifying the artificial life out of the pole. With the distractions decimated, Jinx turned to the geeky criminal. He gripped his remote with both hands, and began to hold it like some sort of katana.

"Stand back, ladies and gentlemen, while I destroy my foe before your very eyes!" he cried as he pushed a button that made a three-foot laser jut from the antenna. Jinx was unimpressed. "You really think you can beat me with something like that?" she taunted, "The plastic lightsabers they give to four-year-olds are more likely to hurt me than that little flashlight."

Answering with a battle-cry rather than a genuine comeback, Control Freak made a slash for Jinx's neck, but she easily ducked it, dropping to a crouch with one leg held out for balance. From that position she delivered a punch to his stomach that made every inch of his body ripple and knocked him into the countertop, smashing it. Control Freak could taste the blood on the back of his throat; spitting into his hand, his eyes widened in shock, realizing he'd just been hit so hard his guts _bled_. Struggling to rise, he could barely stand by the time Jinx kicked him in the side. Floored, again. More hacking up blood. As he lay on the ground belly up, Jinx walked over and drove her heel into the remote while it was still in his hand. Grinding her foot into it, the bones in his hand made a painful snapping noise as they were crushed into tiny pieces. He screamed out in agony, unable to do anything but grimace and howl as his hand was crippled.

Moving her foot to his chest, Jinx held out her hand, which danced with sparks of pink energy. Cocking her head to the side, she pondered aloud, "Wonder what'll happen when I hit your head with a hex. Maybe it'll make the skin peel like an orange?"

"Stop. Right now."

Turning her head, Jinx's peripheral caught Raven standing behind her, staring grimly. Looking back down at Control Freak, she saw him wincing in anticipation of some tortuous fate to befall his face, trembling like a sickened rodent. Jinx suddenly felt her heart tremble, overcome with terror at what she was about to do. Staggering back, she began hyperventilating, absolutely horrified that she was about to kill the petty robber, and simply because her mind told her it was practical. _Practical_! Freakin' sociopathic was more like it. She placed her hand over her chest while Raven held her about the shoulders, trying to comfort her with soft words. "Don't worry, that wasn't you, the _glyptar_ was influencing you to do it."

Jinx shook her head as tears began to well up. "No..." she said weakly, "The voice didn't say anything, I was gonna do that _on my own_-"

"That was not you, Jennifer. Just because it didn't say anything doesn't mean it's not affecting you. Get a grip and we'll call the police and take you home."

Nodding silently, Jinx simply waited as the said actions took place. The local authorities showed up in about three or four minutes alongside an ambulance, and Raven was the one to give them an explanation that would let them go. One of them glanced at Jinx's choker, but didn't say a thing. Apparently he thought it was just a rhinestone or the like. As soon as they'd officially deemed the situation under control, Raven embraced Jinx and warped the both of them away.

TtTtTtTtTtTtT

As Raven's dark energy burst through the floor of the Tower, Beast Boy leaped from the spot he stood, becoming a housecat and landing on the back of the sofa, yowling, "RrrEEEOW!" The rest of them turned in the direction of the two who'd teleported into the living room, considering how unsubtle their mode of transportation was. Robin noticed how weak in the knees Jinx seemed to be, and by what he could tell, it wasn't from Raven, either. "How did it go? From what it looks like, the situation got handled in a little over a minute before the police even started in that direction."

Jinx nodded wordlessly as she slumped onto the sofa, sinking until her head was several inches below the top cushion on the back. Cyborg, who'd been fixing a lunch that consisted of four kinds of deli meat and mustard on a baguette, walked up to Jinx, sandwich in hand, and asked, "You don't look so hot, Jay. What happened?"

She sighed and said tiredly, "I put Control Freak in the hospital. Almost had him six feet under."

"May I ask what exactly would be six feet over him?" Starfire wondered.

Raven deadpanned, "She nearly killed him, Kori. The gem has got to go."

"But Rachel," said Starfire, "the _glyptar_ is connected to her soul. Once the spirit that resides inside the stone has its contact made with the one who wears it, they are inextricably bound until one of them has met destruction."

"If whatever's inside the gem is driving Jinx to murder, then I guess we'll have to take our chances with smashing it. The last thing I'm going to do is let someone get killed over a possessed, shiny rock," Robin finalized. "We should probably find somewhere that can take some stress to do this in case it explodes, or something."

After the unanimous decision to go to the outside training grounds, they all walked out to the beach in front of the Tower estate. The other four Titans stood in a circle around Raven and Jinx in a twenty-foot radius, while Raven held her hand outward towards Jinx's neck. The eyes of the demoness glimmered white while her hand was enveloped in a contrasting black energy. A bolt fired from her palm; upon contact, Raven suddenly winced and put the fingers of her free hand to her temple. The gem was retaliating, and she could feel it, painfully. "_Why dost thou fight me?_" she heard inside her head.

Raven couldn't answer, for the agony spread to her very soul, torturing every aspect of it. Raven could hear Happy shriek, Brave growl and choke, and Knowledge wheeze uncontrollably. Lust moaned in pain, while Lazy simply began panting, each short breath sounding as though it took all of her effort to keep from screaming.

Rage was the worst of them all. The roaring, shouting, outrageous yelling at the indignation of someone _daring_ to cause her even the slightest amount of discomfort, it was maddening. The noises nearly drowned out the spirit of Moonshadow, who continued, "_'Tis useless to protest, child. Ye shalt bow to mine will, and suffer the consequences of thy meddling._" The voice was hard and cold, demanding.

Jinx, on the other hand, was shocked at what she saw, what Raven was going through to help her. Seeing the pain that wracked Raven's body, Jinx gathered her resolve and, placing her hands on Raven's shoulders, closed her eyes and retorted to the spirit's assault, '_Stop! I'm sick of you and the shit you pull! You've done too much for me to let you off, and we're gonna smash you like a peeled grape!_'

"_Thou darest defy me! Thou shalt regret thy folly!_"

Jinx was treated to the same agony that Raven was being tormented with. After a few mere seconds, although they felt like several minutes, a silver glow enveloped the gem, and in a burst of light, threw both Jinx and Raven through the air and skidded them over the ground by several feet. The sting from the minor road rash wasn't disabling so much as it was irritating, and Jinx bore through it as she made it to her hands and knees, looking to see how well Raven was doing; the demon-woman wasn't moving, save steady, heavy breathing. At least she was still alive.

It was sudden, happening as soon as Jinx got to her feet. Radiant swirls of white light, emitted forth in ribbons, appeared on the surface of the gem, lining cracks that appeared in the stone. A moment later and it crumbled into a fine dust, losing its splendorous luster, mixing with the dirt below. Jinx's immediate reaction as soon as the jewel was disintegrated was dashing to Raven, cradling the demon's head and shoulders in her arms. Tears began to well in her eyes, not quite falling just yet. She called out to the rest of the Titans, "C'mon you fat-ass idiots, we need to get her to the infirmary!"

The others rushed to her, Robin and Starfire taking Raven from Jinx, lifting her by the underarms and ankles. Cyborg and Beast Boy ran into the Tower, Garfield opening all the doors and clearing the path to the infirmary for Cyborg to reach the room with as little impediment as possible. While all of this went on, happening in a flash, Jinx followed Robin and Starfire, the tears silently running down her face as her heart was filled with guilt, doubt and regret over the likelihood of Raven recovering, and how it all came to be in the first place. Once they'd placed Raven in the medical bed, Cyborg monitoring her status, Jinx sat beside her, and refused to leave until she was well again.

mMmMmMmMmMmMm

He hadn't slept well, and it showed. Mammoth's eyes had deep bags under them, and he hung his arms like a massive troll. It was about an hour before he had to get to the piers, and he didn't think that he'd have the energy to keep up the pace he worked at yesterday. At least he didn't have any doubts that he would be part of the crew; he'd gotten more than half of it done, all on his own.

Walking to the dingy, dusty bathroom, Mammoth ran the cold water for awhile, waiting for it to become particularly chilling. He let his enormous hands fill up, cupped to hold a small reservoir before splashing himself in the face. A shiver ran down his spine, jolting him to awareness. Looking at himself in the mirror, he studied the grungy face that stared back at him. Perhaps it was time for a shave…

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Although he considered it rather crude, it would suffice to cut the lengthy goatee short enough to take care of the remainder with his razor. Mammoth stepped back into the bathroom and, pulling the hair tightly, sliced it off with the blade, leaving about a half an inch on his chin. Tossing it into the bin that sat nearby, Mammoth then set down the knife and got out his razor and shaving cream. He squirted a small heap of the foam into his hands and lathered his face. After washing off his hands, the giant man took the razor and began to stroke his face with it in an uncharacteristically gentle touch. First went the sideburns that were beginning to grow back, and then what was sprouting from his lower cheeks. His neck was next, followed by his upper lip.

It was when he was halfway finished with his chin that the doorbell rang, making him jump slightly and nick himself. He swore and yelled to the door, "Just a second, man!"

He left the razor at the sink and answered the door, swinging it open and scowling, the other half of his goatee still covered in the cream. It was Mr. Wilson.

The suit he wore this time was even darker than the last, this time being a charcoal black suit pinstriped with a slate gray. The undershirt was midnight blue, and the jet black tie was nearly invisible with all of the darker colors. A vulpine grin was on his face, and he said in that unnervingly familiar and distinct voice, "Good morning, Baran. Today we've got to leave a little earlier than normal. I'll let you finish shaving and get on a new change of clothes before we leave."

Walking back to the bathroom, he called back while leaving, "Stop calling me that!" and stepped to the sink. A few more strokes and the hair was all gone, and he used a bit of toilet paper to dab up the blood that leaked from the cut before going to his room. Digging through his drawers, he pulled out a mustard yellow muscle shirt and faded black jeans before getting on a pair of socks and his shoes and walking to Mr. Wilson's SUV. Hopping into the passenger's seat, he buckled up and asked, "What's up with comin' so early?"

Mr. Wilson answered, "I can't be driving you everywhere, so we're going to get you something that you can fit into. I have more than enough money to get whatever you'd like. I could even buy a '66 Corvette convertible if you wanted, but I highly do not recommend it, considering the neighborhood you live in."

Mammoth nodded as they drove to a car dealer in the middle of the city. The ride didn't take long, as they were out before the morning traffic jam, and they parked outside the office. Mr. Wilson stepped out and readjusted his suit to look more formal, while Mammoth simply jerked the waistband of his pants to keep from looking anymore like some sort of gangster. They stepped inside, and were greeted by the smell of dark, pungent coffee. A balding man sat at the desk, talking a sip of the piping hot drink before setting it down and rising from his chair. He shook hands with them, saying, "Wilson, it's great to see you. Your SUV got totaled, I take it?"

Mr. Wilson shook his head, replying, "No. I'm actually here to buy something for my friend here," jerking a thumb at Mammoth. "He needs a vehicle that can fit him and get him to and from work. I, for one, refuse to chauffeur someone back and forth who is more than capable of driving himself."

Taking a good look at Mammoth, the dealer put a thumb and finger to his chin, thinking for a time before shaking his index finger and walking out the door, ushering the two customers along with him. "The biggest thing I've got is this pickup truck, but I don't know if he'll even fit there," he said as he hustled to the lot.

He stopped at a massive truck that was a good foot taller than Mammoth, and had a huge cabin. It didn't have a canopy over the bed, but Mammoth didn't mind. He was certain that the thing was based off of some sort of monster truck, and was released to the public for the sole purpose of smashing things under the rough gripping pattern of the tires. His eyes wide with disbelief, he said in awe, "It... it's beautiful." He turned to the dealer and asked, "How much?"

"The asking price is eighty-thousand bucks, but I'm sure that Wilson's more than able to pay that whole thing right now."

Heading back to the office, he said, "Alright, let's get down to business and get all the paperwork over with."

A half an hour later, they settled on the price of seventy-two thousand and twenty-nine dollars, Mammoth finally scrawling down his last signature. Giving the papers to the salesman for him to stash them away in his file cabinet, Mammoth and Mr. Wilson strutted from the office, the key and chain jingling merrily as Mammoth unlocked and opened the door. Before he got inside, he paused and asked Mr. Wilson, "Hey… if the truck's in my name, how could you be paying?"

Mr. Wilson simply put on that twisted, sinister grin that always managed to scare Mammoth just a little bit. "I have my ways. Now, you'd best be getting to work, hm?"

Mammoth nodded, still not sure of how to react as he hopped inside and turned the key in the ignition. It only took one twist, and it started up magnificently, the roar of the engine making a pleasant rumble that calmed Mammoth's nerves. He'd always liked big things, and this truck was the epitome of comfort for him. He drove from the lot, smiling and forgetting about Mr. Wilson entirely as he drove to the piers.

Reaching them just in time, Mammoth parked it in the lot and got out, checking in as fast as he could. As the ship pulled into the dock, the manager walked up behind him and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. "You got here just in time, we got another big load today." Looking up, he saw Mammoth's clean-shaven face, commenting, "Looks like you got a nice shave. Really suits you, y'know?"

Mammoth looked down at him, a little confused, before the man told him, "Alright, gotta get goin', eh?" and walked to the boarding ramp of the ship.

The huge brute followed, and began unloading impossibly heavy crates. How they could hold that much weight without breaking was beyond him, not to mention that it took about four men to unload just one of them. It was a repetitive, monotonous day, back and forth, back and forth, lugging the huge wooden boxes to the warehouses. The hours ticked away slowly, the merciless sun moving sluggishly at a speed that would make cold molasses look like a racing car. His lunch break couldn't have come sooner, and at that Mammoth hopped into his truck and stopped at a nearby fast food joint.

He ordered three strawberry milkshakes and a double cheeseburger with everything, and as soon as he sat down with his meal, began to wolf it down as fast as possible, and sucking the milkshakes like some sort of divine nectar. Even with the brain freezes that accompanied them, the giant of a man couldn't help but relish the cold that came with the huge gulps of ice cream, milk and strawberry syrup. As he finished the last one, he set the paper cup on the table and leaned his head back, groaning in ecstasy at the relief from the warm day. Although he had to rub his temples to get rid of the cold headache that started to overcome his brain, he enjoyed every second of it.

'Dear God, that was good,' he thought to himself, still enthralled with the cool drinks' sensations. He let his last swallow of it linger in his mouth for a while, chilling his tongue and cheeks for that last moment before gulping it down. His eyes rolled into the back of his head at the final swallow, and he sighed with relief as he felt the shakes work their magic on his insides.

Finally, with a grunt of satisfaction, Mammoth got up and stretched, dumped his trash in the waste bin, and made his way to the truck. The drive back seemed so long, since he was really not in the mood to get back to work, but he knew it had to be done, or else he'd get fired. He didn't want to even think of what Mr. Wilson would do if he got the boot.

MmMmMmMmMmMmM

The afternoon went by just a tad faster than the earlier half of Mammoth's shift, but still felt like it was tortuously lengthy, minutes at the pace of hours, hours feeling like half of a day at a time. Some of the other workers took note of his weariness, having done more than half of the load himself again, and told him he could take a break, that they would cover for him, just as long he would still be ready to get back on his feet if they needed him again. Taking advantage of the wonderful opportunity, Mammoth plodded to the dock, where he flopped to the ground and hung his legs over the edge. The sun had begun to set, and the heat of the day lessened considerably, especially since he wasn't laboring for a time. He could feel his arms and legs throbbing as the blood flow returned to normal, and sighed. Had he known that he'd eventually have to get an honest job, Mammoth would have studied longer in HIVE; they didn't just harness your powers and teach you how to become a mercenary, after all. Then that Brother Blood asshole came along…

The thought made Mammoth's blood begin to boil, and he unknowingly gripped the wood where his hands rested so hard that it began to crack and splinter. He gritted his teeth as more memories of the bastard came to mind, and how detestable the man was. He was the sort of thing that even other villains would hate with a passion, even more unlikable than that creepy fellow that tried to have them hand the Titans' asses to them-

Wait a minute. Now that he thought about it, Mr. Wilson certainly sounded an awful lot like that Slade character. Could it be…?

Nah. Mammoth waved it off, simply thinking that his mind was simply associating the two because they both scared the shit out of him. The jolt of his supposed epiphany had shocked him back into shape, and found himself not only ready for work again, but very motivated to get it all done. He had some things that he would need some time to think about when he got home…

Two hours later…

"Whew!"

Mammoth was more than done for the day, but was still the last one out of the lot. All of the other workers had already disappeared, and Mammoth was rooting about in his pockets for his keys when he swore he saw a shadow go by, roughly human shaped. He turned to where he saw the shape, and frowned. It was that Red-X jerk again, and yet _again_, trying to clamber through the window. Looking about the ground, Mammoth found a decent sized rock. Silently, he heaved the stone at Red-X, who only saw it too late. BONK! And he was out.

Mammoth galloped in his direction, skidding to a halt, standing over the crumpled form of the thief. Using one hand to wrap around Red-X's wrists and the other to hold him by the scruff of his neck, Mammoth slammed him against the wall, grumbling, "Hey! Get up!" while shaking him.

Jarred to his senses from being thrown around like a rag doll, Red-X opened dizzy eyes and was greeted by the face of an angry and irritable Mammoth staring back, Mammoth's own eyes narrowed in his irritation. "The _Hell_ do you think you're doin' here?" he growled fiercely.

After recovering, his head no longer swimming, Red-X shot back, "Getting some necessities. Gotta keep my look fresh, y'know?" his eyes expressing the sarcasm.

The comment earned him a headbutt, one which was not particularly gentle, either. "I'm askin' again, why are you here?"

Red-X sneered, "You don't even have a clue what's inside those boxes, do you?"

At that, Mammoth was stunned. What exactly _was_ it inside the crates? "What is it, then?"

"If you wanna know, go and look for yourself. That stuff is very dangerous, very expensive, and _very_ illegal. I need it to power up the suit, and buyers need it for their weapons. Real _big_ weapons," Red-X replied in a snarky voice. "I get a little extra, and I'll be rich for a long, long time."

The thief's attitude was beginning to grind Mammoth's nerves again. "You know who it goes to?" he snarled.

"Mostly government crap. CIA and the military buy it, make some nukes, and get all the more overconfident and paranoid."

At that, Mammoth let him go, still towering over him with a visible urge to inflict serious pain and injury on the slender thief while he was cornered. And he did just that, punching him in the stomach with his ham-fist, and Red-X choked on his breath. "Now get outta here, and next time I see ya, I'll make you shit out your guts. Got it?"

Red-X wheezed with obvious strain, "Yeah… whatever…"

As Mammoth left and drove away, Red-X stood and spat a little blood from under his mask and onto the ground. Next time he saw Mammoth, he'd slice him like cold sashimi. At that, he sped away, still breathing heavily.

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

It had been ten hours since the incident, and Jinx still hadn't left Raven's side in the infirmary. Her slender hand was impulsively rubbing her thumb into Raven's palm, gently stroking and swirling in little circles. Raven's hand was so soft, so supple compared to her own. Jinx was always envious of what the Titans got compared to her own gang of thieves. Free clothes, free showers, free care products, and don't forget all the free equipment. Hell, with what they had, she was surprised that they hadn't already eliminated crime from Jump City altogether. The fact that her entire crew wasn't in jail by now was a feat in itself; she'd heard in the news that Gizmo and Mammoth were thrown in prison, and that Mammoth was bailed only a day or two afterward. How the idiot managed that was beyond her.

As far as she knew, all the others had disappeared in one way or another, whether they moved, had gone into hiding, or went missing. Probably killed. The thoughts only succeeded in making her even more depressed, and tears welled up, hanging from her eyelashes like dewdrops. She shook her head as she stared down at Raven with a grim, saddened face, feeling hopeless.

Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy stepped into the room, looking on glumly. Starfire had her hands cupped over her mouth, attempting to hide her crinkling chin that signified the approaching tears. Beast Boy's mouth hung open slightly, showing his feral teeth, although how they looked could not have contrasted his feelings more than they already did. Cyborg, however, kept silent and headed over to the various devices that recorded Raven's status. Typing a few things on the computer, his fingers flying over the keyboard, he told them of her condition. "Well, her body's doin' just fine. Her heart's normal, breathing's in check, and nothin's broken. It's her brain that's got me stumped."

"Wha'?" Beast Boy asked in confusion.

"Lookin' at her neural activity, there's somethin' in her head that's got it in overdrive. It's like she's fightin' somethin' in there, and I don't like it one bit."

"The spirit that had once resided in the _glyptar_ must be the culprit. I can only assume such a thing, but it seems likely that the spirit has taken hold of her body, and they are fighting over dominance inside her mind," Starfire suggested.

After a moment of silence, Cyborg said, "…That actually makes a lotta sense. But how we get in's the problem."

Beast Boy looked up at the both of them, his eyes widening. "Guys, remember the mirror? Cy, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Yeah. I really don't wanna resort to that, though. It ain't worth it to mess with her head any more than it already is. Besides, that was one freaky place, don't _you_ remember, Beast Boy?"

"Sure, but what other choice do we got?" he retorted.

Cyborg sighed and rested a hand on his head. "I dunno… I guess it's our best shot. But who's goin' in? I'm pretty sure she doesn't wanna see either of us, Bee."

"I'll go."

Everybody looked in Jinx's direction. "Are you certain you wish to take this course of action, Jennifer?" Starfire inquired.

"Yeah, I am. I'm about the only one here she isn't whose ass she's gonna kick when she gets back," she answered, stifling any further tears and sniffs.

"I guess. Just gotta be careful, alright Jay?" warned Cyborg.

"Gotcha."

And at that, Jinx stood and left the infirmary, heading to Raven's room. The walk seemed to take forever and a half, each step crawling with intent and will. Up the stairs she went, slowly climbing them, putting effort into it as she went from one step to the next. After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the door to the room. She nervously undid her ponytail and then pulled it back again, uncomfortably tight, although it went unnoticed as her hand reached for the doorknob, shakily taking hold. As she gave it a twist she could feel her heart beat at an alarmingly fast rate. Jinx had seldom entered that room, only enough times to count on one hand. It was still familiar to her, not having changed one jot since the last time she'd visited.

Jinx looked to the vanity, and spotted the bronze mirror immediately. She began to sweat at the brow, and reached for it, reluctantly, unwillingly. No matter, as Jinx took hold of it and stared into the brilliant plate of silver and crystal, and a vortex formed about her, spiraling and whipping dark energies that enveloped her. Jinx closed her eyes and felt a violent tug on her legs, and got the sensation that she was falling a great distance. Once she felt solid ground beneath her feet, she opened her eyes and gasped.

She'd never seen anything like it; an infinite blackness, littered with red stars and pieces of rock that drifted about the emptiness. The stone she stood upon seemed to be a lengthy pathway, making jagged turns with wickedly sharp spears of rock jutting from all directions.

Holding about her initial fear of the place, Jinx was soon filled with wonder and awe as she followed the path. After what could have been no more than ten minutes, Jinx heard a muffled giggle. She spun around, looking for the source of the noise, and found nothing. She couldn't just shrug it off, and it gave her the feeling that she was being stalked.

It was only a few steps further that she saw a shadow zip by, and she then became annoyed. "Who are you?" she called out to the nothingness. From behind one of the pillars of stone, a head popped out. Donned on it was a rosy pink hood, and from under it was a pair of wide, violet eyes. Staring for a second, her brain concluded that what she was seeing was Raven.

In pink.

And _laughing_.

"What."

This 'Raven' grinned widely, and flew towards Jinx with zest, jauntily taking hold of Jinx in a hug around the shoulders. "I'm Raven, silly! Who else could I be?" the 'Raven' squealed with joy.

"A figment of my imagination that's showing that I've finally snapped."

"Oh, such a funny one! C'mon, I have something to show you!" 'Raven' said before zooming off. Jinx followed, having to run at top speed to keep up, and when the one in pink settled to the ground in a concave piece of land, Jinx walked to the lip and looked into it, suddenly feeling very scared and extremely confused. There were several incarnations of Raven lounging about, doing everything from reading to cowering in a dark corner to picking her nose. One of them, wearing lilac, was lazily fondling herself, mostly focusing on her ample breasts. Seeing what she couldn't believe, her mind simply couldn't compute that there was such a thing as this, no possibility of it even existing, not in Raven's head or her own. Jinx ran her hand over her head, and laughed as though she was mad.

Hearing the insane cackle, the one in a vivid yellow robe marked the page she read, set down the book and whisked through the air to meet face-to-face with Jinx. "Nice to see you've finally come, Jennifer. Now get down here, we've got a few things that need to be talked about."

She took Jinx's free hand and gently floated to the ground in the pit. Jinx jumped back to composure, soon paying explicit attention to the separate Ravens that began to surround her. The one in yellow told her, "Sit down, and we'll explain everything…"

JjJjJjJjJjJjJ

A/N: Alright, that one took me forever. Again, R&R, and I hope leaving you hanging like that doesn't piss you off too bad.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Alright, let me get this straight to you. This chapter will only be Jinx and whatever is in Raven's mind, save an occasional break to Raven in the outside world. There will be violence. There will be sexual material. There will be foul language. There will also be terrible singing.

I don't own rights to the Teen Titans, neither do I to the songs Jinx will sing.

JjJjJjJjJjJ

There were many things that Jinx had a very hard time absorbing. One of them was how Raven managed to have so many different aspects inside her head without showing any real signs of them. Knowledge was probably the most prominent, considering that Raven would study and meditate so often. It also explained the bitchiness that would sometimes rear its ugly head when her concentration was ever interrupted. She did _not_, however, express any sort of love for the color pink-

Wait. Did she? Jinx giggled inside at the thought, wondering just what it was exactly that inspired that sort of thing. Raven probably had been fond of the color long before her and Jinx had ever met, but there was still a sort of satisfaction Jinx drew from how she could have only made Raven's affection to pink grow even deeper.

Her train of thought was broken when Knowledge snapped her fingers in Jinx's face. "Listen up. We don't have much time to fill you in on everything, so we can't have you wandering off." Jinx nodded and planted her hands in her lap, sitting on the ground cross-legged.

Knowledge planted a hand on her hip and began pacing in front of her, along with many others doing several things befitting their personalities. Rage glowered at Jinx, while Timid cowered in an opposite corner, afraid to look squarely at anyone at the moment. Bravery and Happiness were talking back and forth, the flamingo-colored one's mouth pattering almost endlessly, only occasionally allowing Bravery to sneak in a word or two. Laziness sat on the ground with her legs spread-eagled, and loosed a belch of epically disgusting proportions.

None of them were as distracting as Lust, however. She was smoking what looked like a fat, hand-rolled cigarette through a quellazaire, the trumpet-like accessory only adding to the seductive air about her. Jinx only half-listened to Knowledge's droning, drinking in the aura of sexiness that radiated from the demonic aspect. The heavy smoke billowed into a haze about her as she lay between a pair of boulders that contoured her body perfectly. The smoke was very pungent, but not bad-smelling; more, it was as though Lust was smoking a cigar stuffed with incense rather than tobacco. Saffron, by the whiff Jinx managed to inhale without choking on it. Even the smoke was sensual in its own way, and it drew her attention even further from what Knowledge was saying.

"Are you even listening?"

Knowledge waved an open palm about an inch from Jinx's face. "If she gets to you like that, I'm surprised you haven't tried to pin every single one of us to the ground."

Jinx looked up. "Hey, if you weren't such a nag, maybe I would. I like bright colors, y'know."

Happiness giggled coyly.

Knowledge sighed, planting fingertips on her forehead. "Since I'm never going to get you to listen long enough, the gist of it is Raven is in one of the darker corners of this place, and she's fighting that Tamaranean spirit that moved in just a little bit ago. As far as we can tell, she's getting her ass handed to her. You need to go and make sure she wins. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

"Alright. Now get your ass up and out of here," Knowledge snapped, pointing a finger to… well, when there's no sense of north or south, up or down, one tends to get a little confused. The only definite thing about what she did was that she pointed away from the group. Mostly to Jinx's left, considering where she'd walked in from.

Before she could get moving though, everybody but Rage, Timid and Knowledge rushed toward her to wish her some sort of good fortune, letting Jinx know how much she would be missed, and to try not to die, etcetera etcetera. Happiness hugged her painfully around the waist, Laziness waved, Bravery delivered a friendly punch in the shoulder, and Lust batted her eyelashes after blowing a kiss. "Alright, I get the point. Now, you gonna let me get to saving you or what?"

Once the rest of them let her breathe, Jinx headed off herself, following the trail that Knowledge had pointed to. Now that Jinx thought about it, the path hadn't been there where she'd arrived. She shrugged. Raven's insides must have been a lot more random than she was outside, so she ignored it, sure that the same phenomenon would either get her lost or make some sort of huge beastie pop up out of nowhere.

Watching her leave, Rage wondered aloud to Knowledge, "**She's not exactly someone you'd rely on, is she?**"

"No, not really. Something tells me she'll get it done, though. I have absolutely no idea how in the world Raven puts up with her."

Happiness peeped and raised her hand, accompanied by Lust's hand as well. "**Hmph. Makes sense at least. **_**You**_** find a random hero that doesn't succeed somehow.**"

rRrRrRrRrRrRr

Back in the infirmary, Cyborg noticed the sound of the bedsheets rustling. Looking over, he saw Raven with her shoulders and neck tightening, her brow furrowed. Her breathing was steady, but it looked like she was in a mild amount of pain. Nothing too serious yet, but it was hard to tell whether or not that could be taken as a good sign. At that, he continued monitoring her status, looking for any signs that she was going to lose what was left of her stability.

JjJjJjJjJjJjJ

The minutes ticked away like they were made of corn syrup and peanut butter blended together. Jinx didn't have too much of a problem with the passage of time, but it was more the fact at how boring and monotonous the place was, and how fast it became so. Even in how serious the situation may have been, how dire the circumstances and the innate danger of merely being there, Jinx knew she required a thing or two to keep her mind off of just how bad the whole scenario was. With nothing repeating in one's head save the likelihood of complete failure and what it would entail, she doubted she would be in any sort of shape to help Raven, even if she got to… wherever Raven could be.

Now that she thought about it, Jinx considered just what Raven and Moonshadow would be doing when she got there. If they were… oooh, she didn't even want to think of what they could be doing. What she envisioned made her internal time bomb begin to tick.

Recomposing herself, Jinx began to flip through her metaphorical jukebox to find something that she could sing out loud. Finally, after a few lengthy moments, she settled on a song by The Offspring.

"_I'm seein' this girl, and she just might be out of her mind._

_Well she's got baggage and it's all the emotional kind!_

_She talks about closure, and that validation bit._

_I don't mean to be insensitive, but I really hate that shit!_

Jinx's shoulders began to sway back and forth as she made her way to the chorus.

_And I say 'Yeah, hey, yeah hey,'_

_Oh man she's got issues and I'm gonna pay!_

_Yeah, hey, yeah, hey,_

_She thinks she's the victim, yeah!_"

Jinx was interrupted by a very short bump from the rock. "Hey, it fits. Kinda." She shrugged at the idea.

Putting her thumb and forefinger to her chin in thought, Jinx continued to shuffle through what songs she knew by heart. After about a minute, Jinx snapped her fingers, settling on one that she knew would work. Taking a deep breath, Jinx then jumped recklessly into another song, one she was sure that Raven would like.

"_Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time,_

_I feel ali-i-i-ive!_

_And the world, I turn it inside out, yeah,_

_I'm floatin' around in ecstasy,_

_So don't stop me now. Don't stop me,_

'_Cause I'm havin' a good time, havin' a-_"

Another short murmur of the earth, though this time it sounded like a cough, to interrupt without being too rude. Jinx stopped, put a hand on her hip and huffed. "Fine. Everybody's a critic."

A whine echoed through the darkness around her. "Oh no, I'm not doing anymore songs. You said no to _Queen_. Ain't no way, no how that I'm singing for a hater of the greatest gods of rock 'n roll."

A very loud, harsh shaking started, and Jinx turned around to see the bridge of rock start to collapse and fall into the void. "Aw shit," she cursed out loud before bolting for the next landmass as fast as she could.

The disintegrating stone pathway was catching up to her, slowly and steadily closing distance between the end and Jinx's feet. She ran like she'd never ran before, sprinting like a cat that was being chased by a German shepherd with rabies. "Shit, shit shit _shit_!"

Just as the ground would have given way under her and dropped her to her doom, Jinx leapt and shot through the air and barely managed to land on the next island, stumbling forward and falling on her stomach once she touched ground. Rolling to sit and prop herself up on one arm while her other hand gripped her heart, she panted, "Christ, Raven, you don't have to be such a bitch about it. Hoo, boy…"

rRrRrRrRrRrRr

Robin had joined the rest of the group to make sure that everything was going alright, and that he could help if needed. Raven's shoulders and torso had settled and she was relaxed again, but there was something strange with the neural readings. She'd already been established to have spastic and random patterns in her brain's activity, but it had changed very sharply from swirling emotions to a conundrum of consistent irritation, not to mention some sort of suppressed urge. He distinctly hoped it wasn't sexual frustration that would end in Raven disintegrating half of the Tower.

The part that frightened him was that she had the power to annihilate ninety percent of the world if she liked and put some elbow grease into it, but it was out of the goodness in her heart that she did otherwise. Or, now that Robin thought of it, it was more out of defiance to her father. Who was now _dead_. This also meant that she had no reason to continue to uphold the law and stand for justice. Perhaps it was merely force of habit that kept her working for the sake of the betterment of the world and prevention of criminals having their way with the place. If every supervillain got what they wanted, the world would be changing dictators faster than one could change their underwear. Robin considered himself and the entire planet lucky that Raven didn't succumb to her demonic side.

What had his undivided attention for the next moment was utterly puzzling, and also had to do with Raven. Rather than being some odd readings from some machine, it was what his ears were telling him. Raven was humming, and whatever it was happened to be vaguely familiar…

Cyborg turned to the others. "Am I hearin' what I think I am?"

Beast Boy raised a brow. "…Queen?"

Leaning in closer to get a better listen, Starfire nodded. "Yes, it is a song I find most familiar. I believe it is called 'Don't Stop Me Now', is it not?"

Starfire suddenly jerked away as if she'd just been told Raven was a rampant leper, and the rest of the group paled wherever possible. Raven did _not_ sing, let alone sing Queen. Perhaps she chanted something other than her mantra occasionally, but if she did, nobody ever heard. Whatever Jinx and the spirit were doing inside was really messing with the demoness' head, and none of them liked it one bit.

Only a heartbeat later and Raven gasped sharply, her torso flexing and stretching, back arching as far as her body would allow. It was a mere two or three seconds before she flopped back down to the medical bed, her eyes half-open, and she groaned. "Why… why did you let Jennifer… in my head?" she said wearily, sounding more irritated than weakened.

Robin answered, "Well apparently, Gar and Vic here have already been in your head once, and we figured that, from your… _ahem_, past experiences with Jinx, you'd be the most comfortable with that."

"Rrgh," Raven growled, "I was handling it by myself just fine."

In all honesty, no she was not. As a matter of fact, she was doing a horrible job in defending her mind and soul from Moonshadow, who had invaded her very core immediately. Holding a hand to her forehead, Raven desperately hoped that Jinx wouldn't mess things up any more than they already were. "I need to go to my room, now."

Raven pulled all of the various wires and electrodes and everything else from her body, and stood up rather shakily. She took a deep breath, and was soon able to walk just fine, but as she tried to step out, Starfire blocked her path. "You are certain that you are in health sufficient enough to make it to your room?" the alien inquired.

Raven nodded. "Yeah. Now let me through, there's something I need to get." At those words, Starfire moved from Raven's path, allowing her to leave.

Although Raven could walk through the halls just fine, it was the stairs that she had a problem with. Her knees gave out when she tried to make the next step, and she fell to all fours. Using her powers was… inadvisable, or at least she thought. Having an entity with that grade of willpower made using abilities that focused on mental efforts a very bad idea in her eyes. Sighing, she gave into her assumptions, and began to crawl up the stairs.

BbBbBbBbBbBbB

Beast Boy had taken note of the fact that Raven's step had been almost painfully slow as she had left the infirmary, and so, awhile after she had gone the green one decided to follow as something inconspicuous, a small, olive-colored beetle. He scuttled along the floor, the hard, stiff bristles of the carpet making it somewhat difficult to make progress without falling over himself. It was the sort of cheap crap that one found in office buildings, even harder on one's feet than Astroturf. Luckily, the chitinous legs of the beetle kept him from hurting himself as he scrambled over the plastic threads.

Rounding the corner and making it to the foot of the stairwell, Beast Boy gasped through his spiracles- or at least he came as close as a beetle could to doing so. Even with those scarab's weak compound eyes, he could still make out what was in front of him. Swaying back and forth, blurry as it was, was Raven's rotund backside, moving in concert with her legs. He had a hard time deciding whether he should appreciate or resent the inabilities that he had while in the insect's form; difficult as it was to see properly, he was thankful that he didn't have so many ways to get noticed from all of the various noises he'd have made. Well, he was certain that she was doing just fine, since it didn't seem like she was in in any pain.

rRrRrRrRrRrRr

As it turned out, Beast Boy had been deluding himself, thinking too idealistically. On one wide, isolated platform of perfectly flat basalt stood Moonshadow and Raven, poised for battle. While Raven held a standard, all-purpose stance, Moonshadow stood with her right shoulder facing Raven, looking rather idle. While Raven was in her usual black leotard, Moonshadow was nude, just as she'd been when Raven had seen her last. The psychic winds that howled about the place were the only things that made any noise at all as they stared one another down, neither of them willing to give even an inch of leeway to the other. The seconds slowly ticked away, Moonshadow's brilliant white hair fluttering while the blue cloak Raven had about her shoulders billowed in time with the winds. One could have thought they were to continue the staring contest for the rest of eternity, unforgivingly vigilant and adamant.

Fast as lightning, Raven sprung from her spot and launched herself at Moonshadow, delivering a series of punches and kicks that would have given Robin a run for his money, her hands and feet covered in the black energy to add that extra bit of 'oomph' to her blows.

Alas, it was all for naught. Stepping slowly backwards as Raven advanced, each and every single strike was parried or fended off with one hand. Knocking away a roundhouse that Raven aimed for her face, Moonshadow finally delivered her own attack, her left palm smashing into Raven's upper chest, just above her breast. Raven skidded over the ground, and she thanked the gods that the ground wasn't as rough as the rest of her mental terrain. The blow hurt, but it was nowhere near as damaging as she thought it would be, even if she was currently a mental projection.

Growling, Raven was on her feet again in no time flat, and made another charge, this time interrupted before she could even take a swing. Moonshadow's fist was driven into Raven's right shoulder, and while Raven was in recoil from it Moonshadow spun and smashed her heel into Raven's side; it felt like her ribs had cracked. She fell, and her recovery was much slower, but instead of making another charge Raven stepped back, her arms spread wide. Black tendrils burst from her hands in a massive, writhing spray, reaching out to the void. Although Moonshadow did not see what was being grabbed at, she suspected it to be something large. She was proven right, as two gigantic spears of rock, flat sides facing towards her, moved in to crush her like a bug.

Raven was disappointed yet again, as Moonshadow held the both of them away with her hands, arms outstretched. Her hands had buried into the stone upon impact, and the black rock had begun to crumble at the points of entry, cracking and chipping. Though it was obvious that Moonshadow was showing some strain, the Tamaranean warrior still grinned at Raven, showing that she was far from her full potential. Moonshadow's eyes glared a vivid lime green, and with a burst of energy the hunks of stone were obliterated, falling to the floor as fine dust and gravel. Raven gasped at the display of power.

Upping the ante, Moonshadow leapt at Raven instead of following their established pattern, darting over the floor with supernatural speed and agility. With one last leap, Moonshadow held her hand out and unleashed a great blast of a starbolt that hit Raven in the face, throwing her to the ground. Moonshadow called out to her, her voice stone cold, "Thou cannot defeat me. I am thy master now, and there be nothing thou canst do to prove otherwise."

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After her brush with death, Jinx had set off once again to venture ever deeper into the enigma of Nevermore. As before, it was a bland wasteland, a sharp wind being her only company. This was only a temporary setting though- but Jinx wasn't exactly sure that she would be grateful when the change came- it was soon altered, and abruptly so.

From a distance it was invisible, but before she could even compute what was going on the bleakness was replaced with a widespread forest, filled with dark and gnarled trees, the branches twisted to look like they were wracked with pain. A humongous, gold moon hung in the sky, just barely shining bright enough to cast sufficient light through the branches. Though at first startled, Jinx adjusted quickly, now aware that whatever this was, it was just an illusion, by the looks of it. She followed a narrow path that led further into the woods, which steadily grew thicker.

Flashing in front of her was a shadow, darting at a diagonal across the path. Jinx had jumped at first sight, but soon became wary of its movement pattern, and was able to follow behind it quickly. Her own speed had increased to a full-boar run before she even realized it, and soon she was sprinting with her metahuman speed, making quick, graceful leaps over the tangles of roots that riddled the dirt road.

As time passed, Jinx began to see a clearing up ahead, and she stopped at the border where the trees were suddenly cut off, showing a great stone tower that stretched to what seemed like infinite heights. Jinx's eyes trailed up the structure in awe, and it was only at the soft noise of leather soles touching the packed earth. Looking in the noise's direction, Jinx could only see what was a black cloak, one that dragged along the ground as the figure underneath began to step forward, the great oaken door of the tower opening of its own accord, as though it was welcoming the figure inside.

Jinx was at a loss. Turning back was not an option; she utterly refused to do that. But what of the tower? What wretched, foul things laid in wait, just to snatch her up and eat her like a cherry tomato in a salad? Or maybe a piece of cucumber… mmm, a salad sounded great to Jinx at the time. Tossed with some olive oil and vinegar, maybe a little bleu cheese on top-

No. Now was not the time to be fantasizing about salads. Steeling herself, Jinx stepped to the door, and it only opened wider. The inside was composed of nothing but blackness, but Jinx didn't hesitate, and she walked into the unknown.

As soon as she passed into the darkness, it melted away to become the gray and orange of Jump city at night, streetlights dotting the roads. Jinx had little time to wonder at why she would suddenly be there, for she spied the black-cloaked figure again. She jogged in its direction and reached for its shoulder, but before she could touch it the thing whipped its head around. There was nothing to see of a face except four red eyes, squinting at her judgingly. Jinx flinched backwards, suddenly very afraid and regretting that she'd entered, because she knew what those red eyes entailed. It was never good to see Raven with red eyes, nothing good ever came from it. The only inconsistency that Jinx could find with the eerie incarnation was that there was no face, just the slits. After a moment of stillness, the black 'Raven' began to walk again, disappearing into an alleyway. Jinx followed, considering it a very unwise decision, but she did it anyway. It wasn't as though she had any other options.

Going down the narrow alleyway, Jinx saw something that sparked a memory, a chunk of brick having been knocked from the wall of one of the buildings. Her and Raven had once fought here, and that was where Raven had missed one of her punches. Along the walls of the alley were scuffs, chips and cracks, all caused by blows from the two of them. Jinx remembered that fight clearly, for there weren't many quite as ferocious as that one. They'd both come out of it with notable wounds; she even remembered the first time she'd seen Raven naked, and there was a scar on Raven's shoulder blade from where she'd collided with a very rough portion of the brick. That had been before the 'touchy-feely' incident. Jinx could only wonder at why she was here, but she had little time to do so as the shadow-Raven suddenly appeared by her side. It circled her slowly, the red eyes glaring menacingly before it shot backwards into the darkness at the end of the alley. Jinx promptly followed.

Again she was momentarily enveloped by darkness, and appeared in another scenario that was much more familiar at first sight than the last. She recognized it immediately as Chili's, _her_ Chili's. Thinking back, Jinx remembered that she had taken Raven here on their first date, even if they had to keep silent about it. It was also the first place they'd had a food fight, although it wasn't with one another as much as it was with Mammoth and Gizmo, who'd found them out by complete and utter chance. She saw plates, salads and barbecue sauce flying through the air; one of the skillets had been lodged into the wall. Raven had barely managed to dodge that one.

When they had finished, all of them, Mammoth, Gizmo and herself, were laughing hysterically. Even Raven had to stifle a snort.

That damned shadow appeared from behind Jinx again and loosed a rasping breath, one that made Jinx's spine feel like it had been replaced with an icicle. She began to get the sneaking suspicion that it was far from done using such dirty tactics, and so she continued to follow it as it went around the corner that led to the bathroom stalls. Rather than the lampshades was that disconcerting shadow yet again, and she stepped into it without hesitation.

They were next in Jinx's apartment, just a week after she'd moved in so long ago. She and the shadow were in the kitchen, which had little to no obstruction between it and the futon she slept on for months before she could earn herself a bed proper. While Jinx and Shadow-Raven stood silently to the side, the front door burst open, the Jinx and Raven from that time in their lives wrestling and groping each other, Raven panting and Jinx giggling like a little schoolgirl. They flopped onto the futon, the both of them blushing drunkenly, almost stuporous with intoxication. It was after a long moment of staring that they clasped their mouths together, swelling with passion to the point that one could conclude they were fixing to burst.

For this one, Jinx had to turn away. It was the first time they had even had mutually arousing thoughts, let alone being the first time that they had sex. It was hot, dirty, sweaty and shameful, and guilt wracked Jinx for days afterward at getting Raven drunk like that and taking advantage of it. Granted, she was drunk herself, but that rectified nothing. Her voice was cracking when she pleaded softly, "Please, I've had enough. I don't wanna see anymore."

But the shadow did nothing of the sort. Instead she grabbed Jinx by the chin and said in an unearthly hiss of a rattle, "_Watch_," and then forcefully turned Jinx in the direction of the scene, gripping her jaw and cheeks a little too tightly. The feeling of the shadow was as though she'd touched an oily liquid that left no residue, an ethereal and chilling sensation.

Tears welled up as Jinx watched the scene play out in front of her. She saw herself pulling the top off of an uncertain Raven, hesitant to go any further, but her past-self shushed and comforted Raven as they continued to strip down. By the time she was allowed to look away, the droplets were running, _streaming_ down her face. She wasn't given the time to say anything to the shade before it jettisoned backwards through the window like an octopus escaping from a predator, trailing its dark energy. Just outside the window was the familiar blackness that signaled another area, another memory to visit. At this one, Jinx leaped into the shadowy realm, diving haphazardly. She secretly hoped that it would land her back on the less familiar paths of Nevermore, but such was not her luck. Rather than be granted some sort of mercy, Jinx fell and rolled to the ground, finding herself in the rain. She felt the drops, although they didn't get her wet. It was a dark evening, the clouds casting a greyish-blue over everything. Looking about, she saw herself and Raven again, outside their favorite coffee shop, the both of them soaked to the skin and yelling back and forth at each other. Jinx looked on in horror, seeing the argument that had caused them to separate. She was thankful that she wasn't able to be seen by anyone but the shadow as she began to weep audibly, shuddering and hiccoughing while the crying barged its way out of her.

Jinx didn't listen to the heated argument, but she heard Raven bark, "Fine! We're _through_!" and stomp away. Angry tears mixed with the torrential rainfall, and Raven's eyes had swollen and discolored. In the heat of the moment, Jinx had never realized just how sad that Raven was; she'd assumed that the sequential shattering of entire rows of streetlights was out of anger, not anguish. Thankfully, the shadow did not want to linger here for very long either, and yanked Jinx back into another bit of darkness before things got too difficult to handle.

The pair was now in Raven's room, dimly lit and reeking of myrrh. Raven lay on her bed, wearing naught but her panties. She was sprawled over the bed and her eyes were barely open, glittering with wetness. Slowly, her hands crept towards her valley, fingers toying with the thin cloth, and she sighed as she began to touch herself through her panties. Soon, she was reaching down her underwear, nothing inhibiting herself from being penetrated, and the fiercer her jerking got the faster teardrops poured from her indigo eyes. In moments she was bucking in pleasure and grimacing in the intense melancholy, sobbing and moaning simultaneously. One last gasp for air, and Raven then flopped back down to her sheets, completely spent. Through her panting, her unknown visitors could hear her whisper, "Jinx… why…?"

By then Jinx's head was in her hands. She was bawling her eyes out; Raven still loved her, even after their violent break up. Jinx had longed for Raven herself, but she'd always thought that Raven had locked away her feelings, meditated them from her system. She didn't think Raven would have such a problem with getting over it. Lowering her hands to reveal her large, pink eyes, now a bloodshot red that almost made her irises blend in to the rest of the eye. She sniffed and then dropped her hands altogether, and looked at the shadow. "You wanted to show she doesn't just love me, but that she's still in love with me?" she asked, to which Shadow-Raven nodded.

"_Knowing it will make you win,_" she shadow said in its trademark rattle.

Jinx then stood, and wiped her tears away. "If you were trying to get me motivated, you sure did a good job. Now get me outta here, I got some saving to do," said the metahuman. Shadow-Raven conceded, and in a whirl of black wind, Jinx found herself standing on the basalt pathway she'd been on before she encountered the shadow.

Jinx rallied herself for the defeat of Moonshadow, and continued down the pathway.

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Raven was beaten. Thoroughly, completely, utterly beaten. Her sides hurt from both the exhaustion and the shattering blows she'd taken. All over her body hurt, throbbing relentlessly in pain and fatigue. Standing over her, wiping a small leak of blood from her lips, Moonshadow was breathing heavily. "Thou canst never defeat me. Mine will is too resilient, too overpowering for thy weak mind."

She pointed a finger at Raven accusingly. "Submit and I shalt grant thee mercy in oblivion, or thou shalt discover the true meaning of agony."

Raven looked up at Moonshadow, her eyes glaring with pure malice, and she spat, "_Never_." She followed it with a wad of phlegm at Moonshadow's feet.

Moonshadow huffed and delivered Raven a kick in the ribs, sending her rolling across the stone platform. "Resistance doth be futile," she called out to the demoness.

Meanwhile, outside Nevermore, Raven had crawled to her room, but had barely managed to do so. She was spitting blood, breathing was nigh impossible without great pain, and nearly every muscle in her body was threatening to convulse her arms right from under her. Before she could reach her bed they did just that, and she collapsed to the floor as her muscles tightened painfully, making her writhe like some sort of eel that had been pulled from the water and was left to rot in the sun. She could make no noises save a light cracking sound that came from the back of her throat, the sort one gets when all the breath is sucked from them and they aren't able to draw it back in.

Raven had to admit it to herself, she was defeated. She could at least take pride in the fact that she didn't go down without a fight, and that she fought to the bitter end. Flopping to the floor with little left to live for, all that she could hope for was that Moonshadow would make it quick.

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Just as Moonshadow was going to deliver the final blow to Raven, she found that she had been interrupted by a horrendous shriek of outrage and a flash of flamingo pink energy. The concussive blast threw Moonshadow to the ground and skidded her along the platform. By the time she was able to sit herself up another wave struck her in the face, keeping her down.

Jinx saw Raven on the ground, barely clinging to life from Moonshadow's relentless assault, and all it served to do was anger her further; she had to protect Raven at all costs, and would do so even if were to cost her life. She refused to have Raven's blood on her hands and her conscience, and was about to prove that point. "Leave her alone, ya crazy bitch!"

Moonshadow kicked herself to her feet from the ground and shook herself off. "_Bitch_, thou sayeth? Soon 'twill be _Mistress_," she replied.

At that Moonshadow shot at Jinx directly and as fast as she could. Jinx was narrowly able to sidestep the attack and retaliated with a wave of hex followed by a flying roundhouse. Though the hex landed, Moonshadow was able to shrug it off and catch Jinx by the leg. She swung Jinx over her head and smashed her to the floor with a resounding _crunch_, and then slung her to the other side of the field.

Jinx was back on her feet immediately, amazed that she hadn't been flattened by the force of the blow. Rather than ponder on it though, Jinx simply appreciated whatever it was that made her more durable out here, and then made another leap for Moonshadow. She did a mid-air flip and landed short of Moonshadow by a few yards, her leg outstretched on the ground and a sharp burst of her pink energy shooting up from the ground like a shark bursting through the rock. It hit Moonshadow square in the chest and sent her flying.

Keeping with the flow, Jinx gave Moonshadow no time to recover and was on her like stink on shit in no time, delivering a flurry of kicks and punches that were even more dextrous and furious than Raven's had been. Finally, Jinx got an opening and flung her heel into Moonshadow's stomach. It floored the Tamaranean warrior, who had to back off to give herself a chance to catch her breath. Jinx was fighting more ferociously than she could ever remember, even more than when she'd faced off against the Brotherhood of Evil. She was defending the one that she loved, the one who loved her in return, and those around them. It was more than just a classic hero-versus-villain scenario; it was a fight for survival. It was a fight that Jinx refused to lose.

Again Jinx charged at Moonshadow, who was growing concerned. _She_ was the one who should be rushing her adversary, _she_ was the one that should be wiping the floor with her opponent. Given, she had already had some wearing down from Raven, but to be beaten by a lesser being than her last opponent? The idea was laughably preposterous, but here it was, taking place right before her very eyes. A flying knee made contact with her forehead, and laid her out once again. Before she could get up the toe of Jinx's shoe smashed into her face. She felt her jaw pop and a spray of blood was cast over the floor as her head whipped to one side. Moonshadow found herself dazed and helpless as Jinx stood over her, arms raised and sparking with the vivid rose of her power. Moonshadow wondered offhandedly just how badly it would hurt to be blown to pieces. No more than the torture of having her soul ripped from her body and locked into a jewel, but she didn't doubt that it would hurt for at least a moment.

The blast of energy was released, and Moonshadow disappeared in a swirling blend of white smoke and pink sparks. Jinx was at first skeptical that the Tamaranean was gone, but when nothing happened for a few moments, she left her battle pose and dashed to Raven's side, the fight itself practically forgotten on the spot. She grabbed Raven by the shoulders and rustled her gently, trying to get her conscious again. "Raven! Wake up, Raven!" she said, her voice beginning to become a whine again as tears began to well in her eyes afresh.

Though Raven stirred, she said nothing as her eyes opened to tiny slivers, unable to focus on anything. Jinx shook her a little harder, and said, "Please, don't die on me. You can't do this to me, you just can't!"

Raven's breath began to steady, and her eyes were able to see more clearly. "…Jennifer?" she whispered.

Jinx gasped and hugged Raven close. "Rae!" she cried, unwilling to hold back her feelings any longer. "Thank God, you're alive!"

Raven's arms weakly managed to hang themselves on Jinx's shoulders, and they shook as Jinx shuddered with her crying, rocking her back and forth. Their tight embrace lasted for a few minutes, the time passing by unnoticed. Finally, Jinx broke from the hug and sat on her knees, looking down at her weary and nearly dead friend. "You came for me," Raven said tiredly, looking up at Jinx with both relief and lethargy.

Jinx nodded. Picking her up in the fashion a groom would his bride, Jinx stood with Raven in her arms. "C'mon, let's get outta here," she said determinedly, willing to walk from Jump to Gotham and back if it meant that Raven would come out okay.

Before she could even take three steps however, she found herself surrounded by a circle of colorful robes, and identified them as the other Ravens that she'd met at the beginning of her journey into Nevermore. All but Knowledge were silent, who floated forward. She wore a soft, small smile, and bowed her head thankfully. "Thank you, Jennifer. We wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you, and you've nothing but our gratitude. We'll show you out, you deserve more than to have to walk all the way back," she offered, and Jinx graciously accepted. In a flash of black, Jinx was suddenly face to face with the portal that led out of the realm. As she stepped in, Jinx could hear the chirp of Happiness call out to her, "We'll see you later!"

Jinx didn't want to know when she would see them, nor in what way. Pushing that thought from her mind, Jinx stepped onto the portal, Raven in tow, and disappeared into the blackened haze.

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A/N: There's the latest chapter for you. Sorry about taking so long, but I was in a slump and couldn't write much more than a paragraph or two at a time, and that was when I was RPing, which at least gives you the opportunity to write with more than yourself. At least I got it out now, and I hope you enjoyed it.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Not much to say, really. Gonna have both arcs in this one, and… that's about it.

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For once, Raven was glad that she hadn't used her entire physical manifestation when she went into Nevermore. Of course, she would have had a bit more power, but considering just how thoroughly she'd been beaten, she was also sure that it didn't matter much. She'd have had to rely on Jinx no matter which way it went, and thankfully Jinx was more capable than the last time they'd seen her abilities working on their own. Moonshadow's enhancements had gotten to be pretty scary, and the trouble she'd had with keeping control of her body only made it worse. And, Jinx having realized that she fought better in Nevermore than she did normally was probably the only reason that she'd beaten the Tamaranean spirit. Oh, Raven was thankful indeed.

Unfortunately for Raven, since she had used an astral projection, she had to withstand the shock of her spirit being flung back into a badly damaged body. While Jinx was thrown to the floor in Raven's room, propelled from the mirror roughly, Raven was suddenly conscious and overwhelmed with pain again, although it was mostly internal. She figured that it was what Jinx must have felt like after being smashed with that rock, and at that she pitied her pink-haired friend. For this pain, Raven was most definitely _not_ thankful.

She moaned painfully as she tried to activate her healing powers, but to no avail; she hurt too much at the time. Perhaps after some rest…

But she got no such thing. Jinx was on her feet nearly as soon as she'd landed, and she slid on her knees to Raven's side. She would come to regret this later, as the carpet wore two small holes in the jeans she'd been wearing at the time, but at the moment she hardly gave a damn. She cradled Raven's head in one of her arms while the other one went to her upper chest, feeling for her heart. "Raven! Are you alright?" she asked quickly.

Raven could barely open one eye, it squinting uncomfortably. She met Jinx's eyes and snarked, "Of course, I'm just moaning in agony for dramatic effect."

Jinx smiled wide and hugged Raven tightly, who in turn hissed as she felt her insides being crushed. "Air, Jen, air!"

Jinx immediately backed off and apologized. "Sorry Rae, just a little too excited that you're alive, I guess. Can ya really blame me?"

Though Raven's eyes, the both of them having cracked open, said otherwise, Raven answered with a firm, "Yes, I can, you spaz."

Jinx's smile didn't fade one jot. "There's the Rae I know."

Raven could still taste blood on the back of her tongue. It reminded her of just how badly she'd been hurt, and so she looked back up to Jinx again, asking hesitantly, "…Do you think you could take me back to the infirmary? I should probably have Vic give me another checkup, just to make sure nothing's been smashed too hard." Jinx nodded quickly and picked Raven up under her knees and shoulders.

mMmMmMmMmMmMm

It seemed that Mammoth had taken up the pastime of doing nothing but pacing back and forth in his messy living room. It wasn't quite as bad as it used to be, for at least one didn't have to kick a path through the piles of trash on the ground. He couldn't help but ponder on what Red-X had told him. Did Mr. Wilson know what was being smuggled in? Of course he did; this _was_ Mr. Wilson, after all. Mammoth would have bet his left nut that Mr. Wilson was in the know.

He ran one of his great hands through his hair as he continued to think. Since, he assumed, that Wilson knew what was in the crates, then he also had a plan for what to do with it. Red-X had mentioned making weaponry with it. Did he want to make a bomb and nuke Jump into one big pit of fallout?

Mammoth shook his head. Nah, Mr. Wilson was way too crafty for that sort of thing. He wasn't one of those crazy, retarded villains that wanted to blow up the world because it would be fun. He had a plan, a scheme, but whatever it was, Mammoth couldn't have figured it out. He couldn't think of anything beyond a plot for the man to get even more money than he already had, and so, his head hurting too much, Mammoth left it at that. His head was starting to throb from thinking too much.

Plodding to the kitchen, Mammoth grabbed a beer from the fridge and set it on the counter while he shifted around a few things, drawing from the mess an orange bottle of painkillers. Simple enough as ibuprofen, but he had to take about five of those eight hundred milligram tablets to get any sort of effect. Dropping just that many into his mouth, Mammoth popped open the can of beer and took a swig to wash them down. He puckered his lips a little, the bitter taste of cheap beer nearly making him cough. He didn't have enough money to buy anything good, and slugging down a whole six-pack would hardly get him buzzed, let alone drunk. For a second, he wondered why he even got the stuff in the first place, but told himself that it wasn't worth thinking over.

He flopped down onto the ratty couch and grabbed the remote, flicking on the flat-screen television that he'd gotten from back in the days that Jinx still hung around. He sighed tiredly; he wondered at just how well she was doing. They hadn't met for almost a year now, and when he last saw her she was unemployed and desperate for a job. Mammoth had offered to have one last go at a bank or something, just enough to let her get a couple months of rent paid for a decent apartment, but she refused. Said she needed to clean up her act, and at least he and Gizmo respected that. The rest of them didn't even take the business seriously; even Kyd Wykkyd didn't want to keep going once she'd left, and he was the dark and brooding type that one would have expected to get deep into crime.

As he surfed through the channels, Mammoth came to a dead stop on one of the news stations. The scene was a recording of what had happened earlier that day: at a local electronics store, some sort of scuffle happened between two people, and the place ended up getting trashed and one person hospitalized.

"_The terrifying damage was caused by a technological whiz who dubbed himself 'Control Freak,' and a metahuman that was later identified by the police as 'Jinx,' an ex-con who happened to be there at the time of the robbery. Although she was the primary source of the damage, the store employees report that it was all to stop the electronics from… _attacking _anyone."_

The newscaster had a confused look on her face. Yes, Jump City had some strange happenings, but being assaulted by a T.V. was just plain weird.

The screen flashed to one of the workers talking to the cameraman. "_This fat guy just came in and started ranting and raving, saying a bunch of lines from obscure movies or something, like, yelling "father" this and "flesh wound" that, just being a real nut. Then that girl came out of nowhere, like, she was just _there _all of a sudden, and when the nerd pressed his little controller and got a bunch of stuff attacking, she went and smashed it all with some kind of pink light. It was freaky, but I'm glad she was there. She almost killed the guy, though. She was freaking brutal._"

Mammoth's eyes widened at the mention of Jinx. She'd dome all that? No way. She wouldn't have done that by herself, no fucking way. She was a thief, not a sadist. She'd dished out her fair share of ass whooping, but she'd never go so far as to nearly murder someone without an inside influence. He just wouldn't believe that.

The good part of it all was that now he knew that she was alive and well, but he began to worry himself over whether she got arrested, or the Titans dealt with her, or whatever else might have happened. He figured it was something that he'd find out soon enough. Jinx never got screen time without putting on a show, and if she hadn't made her performance yet, she was bound to sooner or later.

No matter how hard he tried, Mammoth just couldn't get his mind to stop churning. The mention of Jinx brought their glory days as thieves to mind, and at the thought of thieves came Red-X. With Red-X came the warehouses, and with the warehouses…

"Urgh. Head… hurts…"

Mammoth held his fingertips to his temples at the vicious circle that swirled through his head, the ibuprofen not helping him out at all. He sighed through his nose and heaved himself to his feet. Fuck it, he was going to call Wilson and get some answers. Shoving a few things around at the coffee table, Mammoth drew forth his cell phone. He went to the speed dial menu and only found one number: five-five-five, three-eight-one-seven. He pressed call, waited two rings, and heard Mr. Wilson ask, "_Yes?_"

"I'll see ya in a bit, I'm comin' over."

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"Well, seems you're alright. Nothin' serious, you could fix yourself with a quick meditation."

Cyborg brought almost only good news to Raven and Jinx. Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy had already gone to their respective chambers, under the impression that everything had gone well. "You still might wanna keep it cool for a while, don't overwork yourself, and blah-dee blah. Y'know what I mean, just the usual healthy stuff," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "But in all seriousness, you oughta be fine. Rest a bit and you'll be up and runnin' in no time."

Jinx smiled thankfully at Cyborg and Raven gave a sigh of relief. "C'mon Rae, let's get you back to your room."

As Raven got down from the table, she put her arm over Jinx's shoulder; it was still mildly painful to walk, mostly around her lower stomach, and she didn't even want to bother with how sick she'd end up if she tried to teleport. Once they'd reached the empath's room, Jinx helped her to bed, laying her down oh-so-carefully. She covered her in her silken blanket and tucked Raven in. While her head was still low from tending Raven's bedding, Jinx had a thought that came very suddenly and unabashedly. There was a certain bit of remorse, along with a desire to redeem it and, on that note, Jinx hesitantly planted a kiss on Raven's forehead. Raven looked up to her with a sort of surprise and satisfaction, their eyes, so charming, meeting and both pairs of them began to glisten with an ominous wetness.

Jinx stood straight, and for a time was unable to do anything save watch as Raven slowly went to sleep. Once Raven had closed her eyes and her breathing had come to a slow, steady pace, Jinx quietly left the room, letting the automatic door shut itself.

She was surprised to see Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy standing right in front of her as she'd exited, and she made a rather unsavory jump and squeak. "Don't do that!" she whispered harshly.

Beast Boy smiled, Robin's face was mostly neutral, and Starfire's became one of apology, her fingertips going to her lips. "Sorry," Robin said quietly, "but we have to tell you that you've got to go. What we've got of our investigation that involves you is done, and unless you were in some sort of emergency or left without a home, we can't have you around for very long. Maybe you can come by and visit once in a while, which I'm sure Rae would appreciate, but you can't be here indefinitely. Besides," he added, "you've got a job that needs tending. I'm sure that you'd end up fired if you were gone for much longer, even with us excusing your absence."

Jinx nodded, and replied in the same, low-volume voice Robin used, "Yeah, I guess. They probably wouldn't be all that happy if their employee of the month is em-i-ay. I'll be outta here in a bit."

Jinx waved as she walked down the hall, and Beast Boy held up his index and middle fingers over his chest, calling to her, "Peace out," while Robin nodded and Starfire told her, "We will see you later, my friend!" all of them making sure not to say anything too loud.

When Jinx was around the corner, a random thought came to Robin. "Do you guys think a ponytail would look good on me?" he asked.

"I dunno. Probably," Beast Boy answered, "You can do what you want with it, long as you take care of it. I almost decided to get dreads once, but after I thought what it would be like to turn into a gorilla with them I didn't wanna have 'em so much anymore."

Starfire looked at Robin curiously. "Why would you want to have the tail of a pony? I am certain the pony you would get it from would most definitely be unappreciative."

jJjJjJjJjJjJj

Jinx had brought very little with her in the first place, that being the clothes on her back. She had only stayed a day or two; a day or two that was riddled with odd happenings, but still, it was a short time. She doubted that she would get off very easily, though. In spite of how hard she labored and how good of a job she did at work, she was a metahuman. There were always discriminatory people, and no matter how well she was able to do, there was little to no slack for her to have a little breathing room. The little bit that she'd been there was about all she'd be given, even with a written and signed excuse from the Justice League itself.

Once she had gotten herself readied for the trip back home, she asked for Cyborg to give her a ride. She was sure that Robin would be willing to give her a ride that would be umpteen times faster, but she wasn't ever really one for riding on the back of a motorcycle. It wasn't even that they called it the 'bitch seat'- she was perfectly fine with being called a bitch, as it wasn't far from the truth- but to rely on someone else's ability to handle a ride that dangerous was a little unsettling. That, and the one that Robin had anyway was a crotch rocket, and leaning as far as he would to make the turns… she shuddered. She never wanted to be that close to the pavement while going that fast, or at least while she could see it.

She hopped into the passenger seat and buckled in, reclining and crossing her legs. It wasn't the T-Car, though, just a rather nice sports car that Cyborg kept so as to not set off social alarms when driving around. It was very nice, a Dodge Viper GTS-R, and it seemed that it was taken care of nearly as well as the trademark vehicle. It still didn't give her much more of a secure feeling than she would have had on the bike, though; Jinx never liked to go much faster than she could on foot, which, of course, was quite speedy anyway. It was probably more that she was intricately controlling all that she did when running, leaping, or kicking off of a wall.

Either way, her place was a long way from the Tower and she still wanted to be able to get a decent amount of sleep before she had to be up and ready. Maybe she would go and work a few extra hours, just to make sure that the manager wouldn't be particularly irritable for her whole shift. It would also net her more time to nab some extra tips. Yeah, that sounded like it would be a decent plan, Sure, she'd hurt more in the morning, but she didn't mind much, considering she'd also dealt with much more painful things than sore feet.

"Awful quiet there, Jay."

"Huh?"

"You've been silent ever since you got in. Gotcha makin' me think somethin's up, y'know? You're usually among the most talkative people I meet any given day."

Jinx sighed. "Yeah. I ain't feeling all that great, not after this whole fiasco. Mostly just casual thinking though, nothing too serious."

"Alright."

Though she said little the rest of the drive, mostly just directions to her place, she did thank Cyborg and tell him to carry the message to the rest of the Titans back at the Tower. Jinx hadn't let him take her all the way however, as there were a few things she liked to keep to herself, and the address of her apartment was one. She would bet they could figure it out without even trying all that hard, since all they would have to do is ask Raven. Who knows, maybe she already told them anyway and Cyborg only listened because he was being polite.

Whatever. She didn't really give a damn; all she cared about was getting some rest and being able to get up in time to take a shower.

Speaking of showers, Jinx looked up to the darkening sky and saw that greyish clouds were moving in. They didn't look particularly cheery, either. She figured it would probably rain overnight and still be soaking everything by morning, but she hardly cared. Rain sounded good right about then, actually.

It seemed that the sky wouldn't have any of it; though they loomed nearer and nearer as Jinx walked the few blocks back home, the clouds were covetous and refused to grant her a single drop of the cool rain that she knew was to come as soon as she was inside and comfortable. Bah. Some things never tuned out right.

Grabbing the keys to her apartment from her pocket, Jinx opened the door and gave a stretch as she walked inside, shutting it with a kick and flopping on her couch. She curled up like some sort of cat and went to sleep almost immediately, having little else on the brain at the moment than getting some shuteye for a busy day tomorrow.

MmMmMmMmMmMmM

The usually satisfying rumble of his truck gave Mammoth no comfort as he drove to where Mr. Wilson had pointed out that he lived. It was an apartment complex, but a very decent, if not outright great one. The parking lot was a little small, but he managed to find a space that he could squeeze into without smashing someone's door in and causing a ruckus. As he walked to the front door of the place, he spied the panel of buttons to call whoever one was trying to find. Looking through the lengthy list of names, he mouthed 'Ah,' before pressing the one that read 'Wilson.' He gave it a press and said, "Yo Wilson, it's Mammoth."

A couple of seconds later, Mr. Wilson said over the intercom, "Oh? What are you doing here, Baran?"

"One, stop callin' me that. Two, I wanna talk."

"I'll be down in just a moment."

Mammoth hardly waited at all before the front door opened. There stood Mr. Wilson, wearing nothing but a black button-up with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, similarly colored slacks and a pair of lustrous shoes. It seemed like no matter where he went, no matter the circumstances, Mr. Wilson had a suit on. Freakin' showoff. The eye patch wasn't on at the time though, which Mammoth found even more unnerving than when it was on; the eyelids around the area looked like some sort of red, bruised pieces of skin that could barely close. "Come in. Please excuse the eye, I take off the patch when it gets irritating. I'll have it on when we're inside."

They headed up a single flight of stairs and stopped at a room labeled sixty-one. It was barely big enough for Mammoth to crunch down a bit and make it through without breaking the doorframe.

He took a good, long look at the place, and took it all in. It wasn't particularly fancy or anything, but it was obvious that Wilson had a champagne pocketbook. At one corner of the good-sized living room was a black, leather armchair with a lamp and nightstand next to it. Across the room in the opposite corner was a very nice plasma screen television that hung from the wall, and a large potted plant that looked well-fed. Though the television wasn't on, there was a nearby stereo and speaker system, and it was playing David Bowie. 'Ziggy Stardust,' if Mammoth could remember right; Jinx had been one for a bit of everything, whether it annoyed everyone else or not, classic rock included, but Wilson looked to be the sort who would either listen to classical or jazz. Something, anything that lacked a drum. "Come in, I've got dinner nearly ready."

Mr. Wilson's invitation brought Mammoth's attention back to the suave man, who had donned his eye patch again. He led Mammoth into the kitchen-dining room combo, the only things that showed which was which being a counter top and the trim where the carpet ended. There were otherwise no walls between them, and Mammoth could see some of what was being cooked. Olive oil, sherry and some herbs by the oven, and whatever was cooking in there smelled effing-delicious. A tossed salad that looked like it was made with all sorts of things that he didn't even think one could get at a market on par with Pike's Place in Seattle sat on the countertop as well, and Mammoth suddenly felt like he was extremely filthy, crude misplaced and unwelcome. Not that most of those weren't true, but at least Wilson hadn't deemed him too much of a slob to come inside. "Sit down, it's almost done," Mr. Wilson said. With the slick yet stern tone he used, it sounded more like an order, one to which Mammoth quickly obliged.

The chairs could hold him at least, which was a plus, and the table had a glass top with sturdy iron legs. It was like everything he had here was ridiculously tasteful for what room there was, and for that Mammoth was very careful. Even as strong as Mammoth was, Mr. Wilson really did not seem like someone to piss off, and he didn't want to try his luck on such stupidity. "So Wilson, I didn't know you were into Bowie and that kinda stuff," he said, thinking of something to say that would let him feel a tad more casual. It did little to help him.

"Oh, that," Wilson replied, essentially brushing off the question as nothing, "I listen to whatever suits what I'm going to do. I usually listen to classic and soft rock for cooking, as it's a bit livelier than most of what's in the enormous library I have."

He slipped on a pair of oven mitts and pulled out the roasting pan. He took off the top to reveal a perfectly cooked duck, which he then put onto a platter before taking it to the table with a pair of carving knives. He then set the salad at the table, with a plate and silverware for the both of them. Well, Mammoth _did_ call earlier, and Wilson really seemed polite enough. He sat opposite of Mammoth, scraping the knives together a few times before cutting into the duck, making perfect slices on each little part of the bird. Taking a few slices for himself before piling salad onto the rest of his plate, he offered some to Mammoth. "Roasted sherry duck and arugula-fennel salad. It's very nice, and it would be a shame if you didn't have some."

Mammoth silently nodded and held up his plate, onto which Mr. Wilson laid a helping of the meal. Though Mammoth was barely able to lift the fork without feeling awkward, he still had a few things to ask. Mr. Wilson, it seemed, was way ahead of him, and said, "You've come to ask me something." He leaned into the back of his chair after taking a small bite of the duck, chewing it thoroughly and swallowing it down before continuing, "My guess is that it's something to do with your job."

At first raising a brow at the uncanny accuracy of the man's statement, Mammoth then nodded. "Yeah. Somethin's fishy about it, that Red-X guy keeps tryin' to break in and steal some of whatever's in the crates. I figured you would know about what's inside 'em."

"I do."

Mammoth had taken a bite of the duck as well, and was amazed at how good it tasted. If he were to ever bother with learning to cook, he promised himself that this would be the first thing he'd make once he got everything else down pat. It wasn't very likely, but there's always that 'if.' "Well, what is it?" he asked once he'd gulped it down.

Mr. Wilson smiled. "It's an isotope that was made into a metallic solid. It's very explosive at high enough temperatures, and a decent-sized bomb made of it can have an output of over two hundred megatons."

Mammoth whistled in awe. "That's about four times the force of the Tsar bomb. The substance has an amazingly low rate of fallout, but it still needs to be kept in crates lined with about a quarter an inch of lead to keep it from leaking everywhere," Mr. Wilson explained.

"And you're movin' this shit by _boat_? What the Hell, man? The only ones I can think of who'd be willin' to do that are idiots like Chang and any other nutsos in his group."

"Oh, I don't plan on making any sort of bomb out of it," Wilson said, "but there are others who do. I'm going to scam them with the duds and make sure I have enough to retire for quite a long time. Only one crate in that entire warehouse is the real material, and I'm going to make sure nobody else finds it.

"You can search Baran, but unless you end up suffering a radiation-poisoning-related death, nobody will find it. So I suggest you don't bother with nosing much more, hm?"

Mammoth's face went straight, but before he opened his mouth Mr. Wilson shot in, "And don't think about quitting your job either. The warden at the prison there is a metahuman himself, however subtly it shows, and he's beaten bigger criminals to death. I don't think you want that either."

The hulk's expression hardened even further. "…You're a douche."

Mr. Wilson laughed softly. "Yes, I suppose I am. Now, you should finish your meal before it gets cold."

From the time those words were spoken until Mammoth finished eating and left, neither of them said another word to each other.

?-?-?-?-?-?-

Everybody should know that it's a very foolish thing to do, going through the seedier parts of town at night. This pair of lovers, apparently, had no idea to the point one would be surprised they weren't dead yet. They were a teenage boy and girl, locking both their arms and their jaws together, spinning around drunkenly and bashing into walls with the clumsiness of their steps, inhibited by alcohol and one another's feet. Their pirouette of puppy love, lust and wine ended when they slid into a dark alleyway, the light shower having just started to fall and wet their heads.

A few more deep kisses and they came up for air, their breaths stinking of infatuation and cheap coolers, when the boy said, "You're so beautiful… I love you."

The girl made a slight giggle before answering, "I love you too."

Again, another bout of kisses this time accompanied with moderate groping, and they were soon taking it all off, the both of them shirtless and kissing and licking all over before they noticed anything that had gone awry.

A curious, luminous mist of white and grey surrounded them, and they soon realized that they were no longer in the alleyway, as they felt no rain, nor did them the gravelly, rough concrete of the ground, and they fell over at the sudden loss of support. Looking up, all they saw was a starless sky with a bright, unrealistically large moon that shone the most brilliant silver they'd ever seen. Of course, the shock of being swiftly transported to such a contrasting realm from where they'd been only seconds ago left them blinded, and the both of them were gripping their faces in pain from the piercing light.

Though their eyes hadn't adjusted to the luminosity of their surroundings totally, the boy and girl could see two little pinpricks of lime green amidst all of the confusing shininess. Swirling through the mist was a gaseous shape that resembled a hand, large yet not beastly. It repelled the wisps just enough to see the fingers and palm; nothing further could be seen, although it was deducible that the hand belonged to the green light. From nowhere and everywhere at once came a voice, echoing over nothing, "_Fear not, youths. Thou hast no need to be here, I shalt enlighten thee to the exit."_

Although they were suspicious at first, being imbibed so thoroughly made the two of them toss the rest of it to the wind. Another hand appeared at them and they each took one of their own. As soon as they were on their feet however, the hands, in a flash, let them go and thrust themselves through the chests of the two. The presence neared and whispered, "_It doth be through Hell._"

The pair burst in a violent blast of radiant green light, reduced to particles finer than dust. In a few moments, the figure was given just a touch more physical manifestation, and then an androgynous figure became visible. "_It shan't be long…_" it whispered to itself.

?-?-?-?-?-?-

A/N: Kinda short, I guess, but I've at least gotten something done. Read and review, please.


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